The Hunter's Adolescense
by WrittenAvarice
Summary: Adam Hunter is a mystery. Ever since he could remember, he had the unique ability to change into a werewolf at command. But after a close encounter with his first human, Adam is changed forever... Read and review, sorry for the short summary...
1. Coven: Home Life

I paced the cobblestone walkway to my mother's house. I knew she'd be angry that I was out hunting so late, and I needed an excuse. Sure I could have said my catch gave me a hard time, but that would be easily seen as a lie. She could see right through me when she wanted. But that was just the woman she was.

As I scratched my shaggy brown hair, I heard the doorknob to our modest home twist. Fear froze me in my unprepared stance. Shivering from the Alaskan cold air, with my pajama pants blowing in the wind, I found myself unable to think of an excuse in time.

The door slid wide open rather quickly, and behind the shimmering light of the house, was Erica. Her grey eyes were like little slits in their narrow sockets as she glared at me. Her normally straight, red hair was now a tattered mess from her fidgeting habits; most likely caused by my being so late.

Erica was my best friend in the coven. And I think the overall reason was because of her tolerance for my scent. With me being a werewolf, and her a vampire; well, most of the coven couldn't stand my smell, and the same went vice versa. Between me, Erica, and my mother, was a strange bond that seemed to have been made by the forces unknown.

Although she was much older than I, we got along great; Erica and I. She'd always been my confidant when I felt alone. Unlike my mother, she knew all too well what it was like to be alone. And with me being the runt of the litter, so to speak, she seemed to see me as paired soul. She helped me with my schooling, and as embarrassing as it was, sometimes baby-sat me while my mom went out to feed. And as she stood in the doorway, speechless with anger, I found that I wasn't the only one out late hunting.

It wasn't that she was mad at me for being late, but the fact that I was indirectly making her look like a bad baby-sitter in my mom's eyes. Though, she should have learned decades ago how kind and caring my mother was.

"Where have you been?" She yelled at me, making me instantly aware of all of the other people present. I should have been use too the fact that vampires don't care too much for drama, but still I waved them by as I marched inside.

"My meal got the best of me." I lied. She wasn't my mother, so my chances of getting away with it were slightly higher. Problem was, she could sometimes figure me out as well, and I prayed this wasn't one of them times.

"You know how your mom is when you're out late, especially when you haven't done your homework!" She lectured. Her feint smell of rotting corpse passed under my nose as I passed her and went into the kitchen to finish up on my schooling.

"I know. But I was hungry and she said I could go out tonight." I pleaded, hoping my case would suffice. Living in a coven of vampires left me without real food. I couldn't tell you what cereal tasted like, nor a good hamburger. These were words I knew, but all I could do was put a picture to them. It was like seeing Stonehenge in a picture book, but never being able to experience it.

She sighed as she realized our argument had become just another back and forth that would eventually end with me storming off to bed or her wrestling me to the floor with my arm pinned behind me. It was always a harsh blow to my pride when she did that.

"Can you just finish your homework so I can watch some TV?" She asked, letting me slide with my lies.

"Only if it's Gilligan's Island." I bargained, pushing my luck. I knew if I pushed her too far, I'd be on the floor with her knee in my back and me screaming uncle. And not to sound masochistic, but I always found it fun to fight with her.

"I was thinking more along the lines of The Munster's. That is if it's even on." She said trailing in her thoughts. With our cable coming from a North American broadcasting system in the central time zone, it was always a gamble with what was on. But I knew that Gilligan came on more than twice a day.

"Why not?" I said, giving in. I sat down at the kitchen table. Its white cloth covering was laden with my books and supplies. And at the time, all I had left were a few math questions. Sure I could have finished them before I went out, but when hunger strikes, everything seems to become drowned out.

As I twisted my pencil in my hand, trying to come up with a reasonable answer to a math problem I couldn't quite get the hang of, Erica decided it best to sit beside me and lecture me on why I wasn't getting the question as fast as I should have.

"Multiply the first two numbers in both sums, then the second and first. Those'll be your first equals." She said, tapping her fingernails on the table. The soft clicking sounded right through the cloth, and I wondered whether or not she was cutting into it.

"Will you pay attention?" She said, noticing I was watching her fingers rather than looking into my book.

"Okay, okay." I said defensively. "You don't have to snap at me."

"I'm not _snapping_ at you, _you're_ not paying attention." She snapped.

I multiplied the two and the three, then the four and the three. "A hundred and twenty-six." I said. And to my dismay, she rubbed her eyes and smiled at my wrong answer. "I'm not a math guy." I stated in my embarrassment.

"That much is apparent."

The door creaked open.

"Just put anything!" She whispered in excitement.

And I did without question. I wasn't even sure what I'd put down, but if they were numbers, what did it matter.

My mother strolled through the doorway, and in that instant, the smell of alcohol and gunpowder hit my senses. My mother was a strange huntress. She hunted evil men, or should I say that's what she told me. People who would do harm to others, and who couldn't keep from it were her prey. I use to think that she believed it to cancel out her own sin, but when I'd told her my theory, she shot it down. _I hunt people like that to keep them from making the same mistakes that I'm forced to make year after year._

She held that same loving glance as she told me. She seemed to know I'd understand when she explained that in order to stay young she had to feed on people. Otherwise, she'd waste away into nothing. And that was my greatest fear.

"Good evening, Erica." My mother said sweetly as she took off her thick jacket. We all knew she didn't need it, but it did help her blend in when she hunted. And being around people, every one of them had to be careful. A thought that made me feel special, because I didn't. Sure I could take the cold nights with only my pajamas to protect me, but that was only after I'd changed; when my body was still trying to cool itself down from the constant friction that was caused by my transformation.

"Good evening, Mrs. Angela." She said smiling her grey eyes at my mom, who in turn looked over to me as I feigned completion of my homework and stacked up the forgotten books.

Her silky blond hair fell straight down across her shoulders with her bright amber eyes looking through them. "Did you get your homework done?" She asked.

"Yes." I said, hoping that my grades wouldn't be hurt too badly by my forced answers. If it showed up in my report card, I'd be in big trouble. But I seriously doubted four little answers would hurt my score, but then again, I was never a math guy.

"All of it?" She said, prying at me as she leaned over to take off her heels. She sighed in relief of the uncomfortable pressure that had built up under her feet, and tried roll it out on the black and white, checkerboard kitchen tiles.

"It's all done, mom."

"I helped him with it, earlier." Erica backed as she stood up and pushed her chair in under the table.

My mother smiled at my false compliance. "Well," She said, "Erica, you better get home before the sun comes up. I'd hate for you to get caught in the light because of me."

The thought was grim for us all. I'd never seen what it looked like, but I knew the light's heat was like fire to them. It tuned their skin black and burned it open. The sight must've been sickening. But it was a horrible truth that they all had to live with.

Erica agreed, and left quietly after patting my head and saying I was a good boy. A notion I let slide because of our current audience.

"Are you ready for sleep?" My mom asked, half-yawning.

"Yeah." Her yawn made me yawn and she laughed at me for it. "What's that?" I asked, noticing that she'd brought in a rather large, rectangular present. It looked to be half my size. It also looked to be only an inch thick. _Must be a poster or something._

"Why don't you open it?" She asked, smiling.

As I walked past her and grabbed the present she began to smile more and more. "I remembered that you've never seen how cute you are." She said, hinting at what the present might be.

When I'd finally made the first rip in my new present, I saw to my great delight, that it was a mirror.

I'd never seen myself before. I knew I had fairly tan skin for someone who lived as a vampire. I also knew I had long brown hair that I'd refused to have cut. It wasn't like I was sporting a mullet or anything; it was just unusually long for a boy my age.

When I'd finally ripped the paper away from my new present, I finally got to see what I'd looked like. My hair was a mess. _That's probably why she wanted me to cut it._ Its tangled rat's nest look was enough to make me laugh uncontrollably. "Oh my god, my hair!" I said when I'd finally caught my breath.

As I gazed into the mirror again, I noticed something truly special. I couldn't have asked for a greater gift than to know that even though she wasn't my mother, Angela and I shared the exact same eyes. "I have your eyes." I said in a soft gasp. I felt as though I were looking at her child rather than myself. I actually felt at the time like I was her biological child.

I brought my hands up to my round face as I traced the edges of my features. Everything matched, and if I wasn't being too shallow, I was a handsome kid. And sure I was only twelve at the time, but I rather enjoyed my looks at that moment. Ever since I can remember, I'd never known what I looked like, and I could only react as such. I didn't care to have my springy hair cut, nor did I worry whether or not it looked like I stuck my finger in a light socket. But now, I had a reason too.

"I need a haircut." I said almost inaudibly.

My mother laughed, "Finally, you see things my way."


	2. Coven: Hunting Accident

Her soft, cold hands rested on my bare shoulders. Well, only I could say they were soft. To humans, her touch would be the considered the same as glass, hard and smooth. But there weren't any humans that lived in our little coven. And I could honestly say that I'd never even seen one before. I assumed they looked like us; just weak.

"So do you like it?" She asked. She knew I did. Anyone with eyes could see that I was happy with my present. I just wished that she showed up in the mirror behind me. I wished that I could see us both together, standing like a mother and son should. But I could only wish…

My mother had once said that the reason her kind's appearances didn't show up in a mirror, is because they weren't strong enough to face the monster that they'd become. She always seemed distressed by her condition, but all I saw, and all I ever knew, was my loving mother.

"I love it." I said, trying to mat my hair down so that I didn't look like such a ruffian. But the fact that it refused to stay down, both infuriated me, and made my mother laugh.

"Come on, Adam. It's time for bed."

Our beds were downstairs, in the cellar. The houses in our neighborhood were all hoaxes. It was the cellars that kept us rested and ready for a new night. You see, the vampires who lived in this coven, weren't really part of any coven. They were coasters.

A coast is when a vampire has built up such a fortune, that they could live years and years without conflict. They didn't need jobs, nor did they need cars or food courts; they were completely self-sufficient beings. The only reason it's considered coasting, is because vampire or not, everyone gets bored. Add in such things as Electricity, Water, Gas for the heater, cable television… etc., and their fortunes become like a thick rope being cut with a rusty spoon. Their comfort was almost forever… depending on how much money they'd saved.

Younger vampires though, like Erica, remained self-sufficient here. They usually came and went, but when they did, they hadn't any need for electricity or entertainment. They were all living off of their instincts, something I could relate to. They hunted past the borders of Alaska, and crossed well into Canada to feed when they had too, which was only once a week, and when they weren't hunting, they were spending time with whoever amongst them was like them.

My mother was the previous type. She'd been one of the very first vampires to cross into America from Russia, and was also one of the first female vampires to occupy Alaska. And though it wasn't her idea for something like this safe haven to exist, she was, as she said so often, a co-conspirator. I hadn't a clue what she meant when she first told me, but it didn't matter. This safe haven was named Paradise. Which when you look around at the snow and dead trees, sounds like a mistake to a normal person, vampires seem to rather the cold than the heat.

As I walked down the concrete steps towards my bed, my mother followed behind and closed the door, leaving the once bright path down, pitch black.

It wasn't hard for my eyes to adjust to the dark, seeing as how I'd spent every waking minute of my life in the dark. Like vampires, our eyes automatically adjusted, theirs were just a little faster than mine. I didn't know if it was normal for my kind to be able to see without light, but then again, the only beings I'd ever known were vampires.

This cellar that we both descended down into was where I'd met my mother. I was almost four, as far as she could tell at the time, and I was huddled up against the back wall crying. The blood of dead rats stained my naked skin, and the corpses that surrounded me reeked in the room.

With her was the landlord; the both of them were speechless. She'd told me that he planned on killing me out of pity, but when I changed to protect myself, he backed off. She said that the first time she felt my warm fur, I'd limped over too her and rested my back against her feet. She'd been so moved by that small notion that she raised me from a wild dog; to the well mannered person I was today.

When talk of what had happened spread through the small community, I was under constant surveillance by my mother. She'd protected me when they threw rocks in the windows to make me leave, and kept up my spirits by letting me sleep in her coffin with her every day. And eventually, the night came when the windows weren't being broken in by the offended patrons of the community. A night, she told me, that I'd never forget.

To her, I'd always been her little hunter. Which was where I got my name. And being the first of my kind to ever come to this place, she thought it fit to name me Adam. A name, that I took with pride.

"I'm gonna build a fire." I said, ignoring the fact that the heater was already pumping the large room full of warmth.

My mother strode off to the other side of the room, yawning that it was alright, and opened her solid black coffin. It was a coffin fit for a fat man, which was why she liked it. It gave her room to twist and turn without being hindered by the close walls. When I used to sleep with her, she would be on constant alert not to hurt me when she rolled over or pulled her legs in. But now, I had my own bed, and it's been like that for about seven years.

As I light the Dura flame log, the room became perfect in its clarity. Sure a fireplace in a cellar was a little weird, but we were a weird family. The look on the landlord's face when my mother had asked him if it would be alright to have one, was priceless.

It was a cellar. That's the only way to describe it. Other than my mother's coffin, two dresser drawers, and my bed with a small rug in front of it… there was nothing. The grey walls were so common to me, that I'd much rather it than the rooms upstairs. Again, this house was a hoax. It was all just for show, and entertainment.

As the flames built up around the log, I turned to my bed. I hopped in, slid the warm blankets over my cold body, and let the oncoming heat from the vents in the ceiling wrap themselves around me. _This is the life._

My nights were strictly routine. Well, the beginnings of my nights. It was well past the light season, and I didn't have to worry about my mother's temper anymore, so I'd wake her. During the light season, vampires didn't even think about going outside. Because with an entire month of sunlight, there was too much to risk in even covering up. So she'd go the entire month without feeding, which would make her hungry and angry. I doubted that she even slept during that time. With coagulated blood stuck in her veins she was aching and always stressed. And it hurt me to know that she would bare it for me, because all of the other vampires would just leave and go south until the light season was over. I always hated that season.

It was 6 O' clock on the dot when my alarm went off. I didn't own a real one, but my stomach sufficed for such a simple reminder. And with a soft knock on my mom's coffin to let her know I was going out to eat, she'd knock back and sleep in a few more minutes before getting up.

Every morning I debated on dressing up before I headed out into the below zero temperature, and every morning I walked out with my same old pajamas, and an empty stomach. If the cold was such that I wouldn't be able to stand it, then why dress up and find that out later as I was getting ready for my change? It didn't make sense to debate it every night, but as I said, it was a routine.

I didn't even bother with brushing my teeth yet, nor taking a shower. I'd just get blood all over me and have the taste of whatever lingering in my mouth when I got back.

As with every night, I opened the door to the dark abyss of cold that I'd called my home for many years. And as with every night, I held my breath, and shoved myself out the door. The cold snow on the ground instantly numbed my feet, and the wind wasn't helping. Alaskan cold was all I'd ever known. It wasn't a geographical thing that I was cold; it was a reminder that I was standing ankle high in fresh snow.

I bolted all of the way until I'd hit my favorite hunting grounds. The snow rabbits would be trailing through here as they did every night, and I would be ready; not shivering and trying to force a change with my mind debating whether or not I should go back inside.

As I felt the all too familiar feeling of pressure building inside of me, I fell forward onto the snow. It wasn't hard for me to push through the pain of change. Nor was it an achievement for me to change in less than a minute. So when I finally was done debating retreat, I'd already changed.

I shook the snow off my perfect white fur as felt the heat of the change wash through me. The numbness in my feet was gone, replaced by an extreme amount of blood flow mixed with adrenaline. I loved this feeling, more than any I'd ever experienced.

As I scratched away an itch behind my ear with my hind leg, I scowered the cast fields of white past the forests edge. The only reason I used the forest was because it was easy to track my pajamas by the scent of the trees, rather than having to search for them under a fresh blanket of snow as I did a few months ago. I was in a hurry to hunt in the abnormally warm weather, and as I was hunting, it snowed. I remember having to run back home naked and how I was so grateful that no one had seen me.

The plains were clear of any life, and with that knowledge, I became concerned. _Where's my meal?_ I asked myself. Even though I hunted the same spot nearly every night, the rabbits were always here; they were stupid in that way.

As I paced in my spot waiting for something, anything to arise from the snow, I became anxious. My stomach churned on itself as waited, and I knew that sooner or later, it'd get me to leave my comfortable spot.

And as expected, I did. There was nothing here for me tonight.

My paws hit and sunk through the snow as I tried my best to run without looking lop-sided. Not that anyone was watching. But soon, I found myself skidding to a stop. Right in front of my nose, was a fresh pair of tracks that led east, around the coven. They were human. I knew that much because they didn't smell anything like me, and the scent of rotting corpses didn't overtake my senses as I sniffed them. It smelt like leather and deer urine. _Hunters?_

As I followed the tracks, I kept myself cautious. With every mound of snow too high to see over, I slowed to a crawl, trying my best not to make a sound. I didn't like that there was someone lurking around my home, and I knew that the others wouldn't either. No one in this entire community liked outsiders; unless of course, they were undead.

With only one set of tracks and one scent to follow, I had to assume there was only one hunter. Even I knew that people should never hunt alone. Not unless they could defend themselves if they run out of ammo. _He might have a gun._ I thought sharply as I argued the safety of their kind.

Another mound of snow was coming up quick as I quickened my pace. And as I did, a large figure began to appear from the other side of his soft, white cover.

I didn't make a sound. I'd stifled my breathing, aimed my paws down into the snow to keep them from crunching, and stood as tall as I could to keep my belly from dragging across the snow. Thankfully, he wasn't looking my way. Instead, his hand was held up to his eyes with a pair of binoculars.

"I didn't know there was a town up here."

_It's a small community._ I corrected him. Sure I could have let it go, but had a natural hatred of human kind. Some would say that was bad, but they were food to my mother, and they were food to me… _if there's no way to just scare him._ I said, now correcting myself.

As I snuck up on him, I saw he'd set down his shotgun. Its wooden butt stuck out like a sore thumb in the blanket of white that engulfed the rest of it. He was covered in white camouflage, but it really didn't help conceal the fact that he was a predator in the woods. Even the stupid rabbits could see through this guise if they were close enough. But then again, then they'd be dead. I couldn't stop myself from cutting into his appearance as I drew nearer and nearer to his gun. But right when I was inches away, I had to. This would require speed, and a lot of it.

_Just grab it and run._

I stuck out my neck, with my head passing just under his arm as he looked onto the small community and bit down softly on the strap of the gun. But as soon as I did, his arm came down to his sides, and he felt me.

His recoil was fast as he jumped forward and placed his hand behind him. _He's got another gun!_ I panicked. I wasn't prepared for that! But as we stood there, both of us motionless, he stared into my eyes.

"You scared me there little fella." He said quietly, still holding his hand behind him. As he began to lean forward to grab at the muzzle of the gun, I slowly backed away from him. The strap that was clung tightly in my mouth was pulled along with the gun as I did so.

"Awe, come on little guy. I'm not going to hurt you; I just want my three hundred dollar gun." He pleaded.

I was torn between disbelieving him, and wondering why he was trying to convey the importance of his gun to a wolf.

He inched forward, and I inched back. Another step forward, two more back for me. His legs were much longer than mine, and so I had to compensate with annoyance.

"I'm really getting tired of this little game, now can you please let go of the gun?"

My legs were starting to shake, and I didn't know what to do. If I ran, he'd just shoot me down for his _precious_ gun. But if I kept on, he might do the same in anger. And with my anxious instincts going haywire in my head, I decided to roll with reflex. And so I turned and ran.

"Oh, dammit!" He yelled, as I tried to outrun his grip for his gun. I knew that it wouldn't be long until I heard the gunshot and fell forward into the snow. And with that knowledge, I pushed for more speed.

In the clearing was a small patch of forest, something I could easily lose him in. _Please God, let me make it!_ I begged as I trudged through the cold snow. With ever pound of it sifting through my paws, I became more and more afraid of the bullet that would soon be chasing me.

_Only a few more feet!_ I panicked…

And then came the gunshot.

I didn't feel anything, but still I stopped in reaction. I'd never heard one before, and when it resounded through the clearing, I didn't know what to think.

As I tried my best to check for wounds without moving, a loud voice called me from behind.

"Adam!" He yelled. His voice was more forceful than I'd ever heard it. And when I turned, I felt a huge wave of relief fill me.

The hunter looked shocked to see the black haired man that stood beside him, letting the man have his hand back. "What the hell!" The hunter yelled.

"I'm sorry sir, but I can't allow you to shoot that wolf." Dominic said. He was the landlord to the estate, if I could call it that. This territory was his, but in a sense, it was also mine. We needed it for completely different things, which was probably why we didn't get in each other's way. It was also the reason he had no problem accepting me when I'd first been discovered. Sure he was going to kill me then, but I was a bloodied mess, eating rats in an abandoned cellar… I'd have probably done the same thing. "You see, this is private property and if you didn't see the do not trespess signs posted along our borders, then I must advise you to pay attention next time."

The hunter was completely overtaken by his kindness, though I had a strange feeling that it wasn't Dominic's words that had calmed him.

"Oh, sorry." He said. "What is all this out here, though?" He asked, quite honestly.

"It's an elevated Witness-protection program." Dominic said, quickly and smoothly I might add. He'd obviously had time to think about it. "We take in the more… extreme cases." He added, pretending that he hurt his hand when he'd diverted the hunter's shot. Such small notions about the way he acted and talked, was perfectly human.

"Oh my." He said, looking back over to the coven. "I'm sorry for the intrusion then. I'll make sure to tell the other hunters not to come out here." He said, scratching the back of his head. "Hey. Is there any way to get my gun back?" He asked.

Dominic laughed and nodded. Then, to my dismay, he whistled to me, and then made that clicking dog calling noise. "Here Adam!" It was so humiliating.

I made sure to take my time coming back. And when I finally got there, "Drop it." He said, putting an embarrassing emphasis on 'it'. _Pain in my ass!_

As soon as I dropped it, he patted my head, I growled at him, and then I left him there to converse with the stupid human. _I should have bit his hand, or snapped at him at least!_ I thought as I made my way back home, hungry.

_What a horrible start of my night._ I thought.

Then there was a loud gunshot. From the small distance I'd put between the two of them and myself, I saw Dominic double over, his hand clutched the barrel of the shotgun. And without thought, I made a run for it.

The hunter tried his best to jerk the gun from Dominic's steel grip, but there wasn't any time left. I'd leapt.

My teeth sank right into his throat, and I ripped it right out as I landed on top of him. _Dominic! God, please be alright!_ I prayed as I swallowed whatever part of the human anatomy was being chewed up in my mouth.

"I'm fine, Adam." He said. "He just took me by surprise." His deep blue eyes, peered into my own. "Scared the crap out of me too!" He added, and then looked down at the hunter. I was sure that the panic that I'd killed a man would overtake me, and would play on my face, but it didn't.

He looked back at me and then to the man again, and then right into my eyes. "Funny." He said, obviously deep in thought.

"When werewolves taste human blood their eyes usually change blue… Yours don't."

As he stood, he looked back to the coven, where no one was paying attention. Those of whom knew there was a hunter out here, now knew him to be dead, and that was how things were supposed to be.

I was about to go back home and try to build up some guilt, but my stomach was growling. _I did kill him…_ I thought, debating whether I should just go full tilt and eat him.

"He's your kill, and we're going to have to dispose of him somehow." He stated.

_But what about my mom._

"I'll go talk to her, and you stay and eat. From the looks of things, we're really going to need his body gone by daylight." He said. He was about to walk away when I questioned him about why. It was an honest question. _Why would someone just shoot you?_

"He saw my teeth, and I could hear his thoughts putting two and two together. Think about it Adam; A man appears out of nowhere in the middle of the night, brandishing cold skin, wearing thin clothes, and sporting a pair of vampiric teeth… he may have been stupid, but he wasn't ignorant. So just eat, and I'll go tell your mom what happened, and… I guess we'll burn the rest."

Was it wrong for me to agree with him? _Not if I'm hungry._


	3. Coven: Aftermath and a Mystery

The taste of human meat, is my favorite. Its texture isn't tough like a rabbits or a fit deer; it's much more tender. The soft, fiber-like tissue tickled the taste buds on my tongue as I chewed at it. The blood that had once pumped through the veins that ran in and around the muscle in my mouth was teeming with flavor. It's rich, salty red juices were all but forgettable.

As I stripped another article of clothing from the hunter's corpse, I found my mouth watering for more. I'd already felt the pain in my stomach from being full, but I couldn't stop. My gluttonous instincts told me after every bite to eat more. I could feel the packed meat swelling in my stomach as I forced down bite after bite. And by the time I was done; only the lower torso lay untouched. His arms and legs had been licked clean, the skin around his face; shredded. I'd even eaten the soft skin of his ear lobes. His throat was now just a spinal cord, and his chest, was scraped and gnawed at until there were only a few specs of meat left. It was, by far, the most delicious meal I'd ever had.

I sat back, reminiscing on my meal, when I was approached. Acting on reflex, I reeled on my approaching comrade and let out a small growl. _This is my meal…_

Erica instantly stood still. Her outstretched hand had been pulled back in by my reaction. I didn't know what was coming over me as we stood there, but I wanted her gone. I wanted to be alone with my kill.

"Adam?" She said. I knew she could tell I was in control, but there was so much blood around the body, that I didn't want her taking it. It was too good to be shared.

"Adam, it's alright. I just came to bring you back to your mother." She said, holding her hands up, ready to defend herself.

I turned away and walked around my catch, then rested my front paws on it and my head on them. _I don't want to go in right now._ I thought, wishing she were more like Dominic. His abilities were strange, but they weren't uncommon within their kind. Our kind changed, and we killed. And when we did these things, it was best to leave us to our natural gifts.

"Don't be like that Adam." She said, pointing her finger at me like I was a child. "Your mother is furious at what Dominic had you do. So don't you make it worse."

I hadn't even thought about my mother. The taste of human seemed to drown her out. And I was sure, if there was ever a taste to drown out the world, it was human. The well kept human body that had become my evening/morning meal was thick with a healthy glow. Not now, of course, but earlier; when it was just eye candy.

Stretching out my joints over the bloodied mess that lay under me, I snapped my teeth shut and stood. If my mother was actually furious at what I'd done, then now would be a better time, if any, too face the music. But as much trouble as I thought I'd be in, I found it hard to feel guilty. I couldn't put on my sad face with such happiness shining brightly within.

Erica didn't say a word as I took my stride over to the tree's where I'd left my clothes, and as I came back wearing my pajamas, I noticed that she had waited for me. "I should have taken my time." I said smiling.

"Yeah, it's all fun and games after you've killed a human." She said obnoxiously. I could see a glint of envy in her eyes as she spotted all the blood that lined my lips, chest, and hands.

As I drew nearer, I found it hard to walk straight. Euphoria was definitely affecting my system, and I had to resort to guiding myself with the trees that led me to her.

"Are you… high?" She asked.

"Feels like it." I said, guessing that a constant euphoric state and an extremely docile demeanor called for being high. "And it feels great." I said smiling, making her follow in my example.

She knelt down and smelt the corpse. "I don't smell anything on him though." She said as she stood up to meet me half way. "Maybe eating people makes you high." She stated, wrapping my left arm around her shoulder.

"Don't tell my mom I said this, but I want another one to show up soon." I said. All thought of how tragic that would be for the poor soul was absent in my intentions. I just didn't want to stop feeling this. Every part of my body was completely docile and content; I was completely satisfied.

"I think she'd kill Dominic rather than you if she heard you say that."

As we stumbled back to the coven, I had become the focal point of everyone's attention. And to be frank, I didn't care. Sure I was a bloody mess, but it wasn't my blood. My pale skin was showing just how colorless I was with the passing of each light post, and the fact that Erica was practically dragging me by the time we'd reached my house, only made me feel more like a drunk and less like a decent person.

"Never again!" I heard my mother yell from inside. "The next time I hear that my son is even being looked at funny, I'm going to kill you! Now get out!!!" She yelled at Dominic. The front door opened up suddenly, almost knocking Erica and I out of its way as Dominic strode past us. He gave me a wary glance, wished me good luck, and that was it. As he ran back to his house, I wondered whether or not my mom would yell at me like that.

"Okay, I'm going to go inside first and tell her what's happened to you, and you… stop eating the snow." She said. While she was talking I found myself sitting down on the small elevated concrete slab that was our porch, with half a hand-full of snow scooped up in my hand. And so without thought, I ate it. It was fresh and cool, which was perfect because my body was on fire. "Just sit here, and don't go anywhere." She commanded quietly.

Whereas we weren't being watched anymore, since we were hidden behind my mother's tall bushes, she didn't want my mother hearing that I was outside.

With a deep breath, she coaxed herself into the house and began telling my mom how I'd reacted to the taste of human flesh. _God it was so good…_ I said, my thoughts drifting in and out of audibility.

As I sat there and waited, I tried without luck too hear them. My head was too fogged up, and my body's heat was only making it foggier. The heat that radiated from my skin had already started to melt the snow that sat around me. And I watched as the small worm-like lines snaked across the concrete and dipped down into the cobblestone road.

The road didn't go anywhere. It was merely a comfortable sight for the newer vampires. It helped them to feel more at home… _If they were from the fourteen hundreds._ I thought sarcastically. _Wait…_ The realization that some of them might _have_ been from the fourteen hundreds put me in such a complex range of thinking that it honestly disrupted my ability to think.

By the time the door opened up behind me, I couldn't even hear what Erica was telling me. Her words were muffled. All I knew was that I wanted my legs to make it too my bed. _That's all I want… bed. Warm, bed. Warm, comfy bed._

I remember some quiet talking as my eyes slid shut. I remember a thick pop against my head as I fell forward. And I remembered nothing after that.

I slept, and I slept, and I slept. I didn't want to sleep, but sleep I did. My mind screamed for me to wake up. I wanted to play with Erica. I wanted to watch TV with her, and I wanted to get in a fight with her about whether or not Herman Munster could beat up Lurch from The Adams Family. I would be rooting for Herman.

When the time finally came for me to awaken, I found everything to be bright and clear in the cellar. But the fire wasn't lit. This wasn't my usual sight. This was something that I'd never experienced before. As I looked around the room, a wave of red seemed too pulse in the room. Its fading light was met with another light, stronger and brighter. It was beautiful.

There was also a soft sucking beat in the room. And it took me only a few minutes to realize that it was my heartbeat. And it was timing the lights.

"It's so beautiful." I said.

My mother was sitting on my bed beside me, padding away the dried blood from my chest. And when I spoke, she stopped.

Her amber eyes looked down at me beautifully with their loving gaze. I could now see crystals dancing in them. Her black pupils were teaming with swirling smoke. I'd never realized how beautiful she really was, and in this light… she was perfect.

"Are you okay?" She asked me, padding the soft rag in a small bowl full of warm water. Wringing it out and padding at my chest again, I answered.

"Yeah." I said. "I can see my heart beating around the room."

Her hand stopped at my chest. The rag in her hand was being squeezed tightly in her grip, forcing water to run out over my chest and seep into my bed.

"I don't know what's happening to you, Adam." She said, sadness filled her closed eyes, and tears gathered at their borders. She was crying.

"Mom?" I pulled myself into a sitting position and I wrapped my arms around her. She was warm. She had never been warm to me before, but as we sat there, I could feel heat burning around her. And that wasn't the only change.

A sweat smell had engulfed her figure. It smelled like an orange split in two; the seeping citrus juices that came from the fruit were all I could think of.

"Please don't cry." I asked, my eyes watering. "I don't want you to cry."

The silence between us was only interrupted by her muffled crying; mine as well. The differences between us now meant nothing to me. And I prayed they would be the same too her as well. I couldn't lose my mother too this, I couldn't. Her love was all I really had in this world, and if I ever caused her to leave, I don't think I could ever forgive myself…

"Please don't cry."

That night, we didn't move. My stomach didn't ache for food, nor did any other distraction pull me away from her. Nothing could ever pull me away from her. I was her son, and she was my mother. She was my everything, and I could never be torn from that.

And as the night turned too day, we slept were we lay; with me curled up in a content little ball, and her wrapped around me. _My mother…_ was the last thought I'd had before I finally fell asleep. It was much easier to sleep during the day knowing she was there to protect me. Her embrace was the equivalent of that of the lioness protecting her young.

As night quickly found its way back to us, my stomach stayed quiet. The pang of hunger didn't excite me until I was awake like it usually did. As I slept soundly under my mother's warm arms, I found that it felt as though I'd never be hungry again. As if my stomach would never bother me again…

When I did awaken, I was overcome with a sense of re-birth. My sight was still the same, but the red light that had shown so brightly in the dark abyss was dim and weak, and yet, it still beat the same; steady and slow.

In the darkness, I could hear the beating heart that held itself inside of my mother. Her's was much slower, and much deeper, but it didn't hold a light.

A soft knock from upstairs tore me from my thoughts.

Sneaking from my mother's warm embrace, I slid off the bed. I was careful not to make a sound as I walked up the stairs and opened the creaking cellar door. Tonight, it creaked louder than I'd ever heard it before, and as I checked for my mother's awakening, another knock came to my attention.

As soon as I'd assured that my mother wasn't disturbed, I left the cellar and closed the door behind me.

The knocking came again as I gripped the door handle and turned it. As I pulled it open, yawning, the scent of morning dew and mowed grass hit my senses. I'd never experienced a scent so tantalizing. And it quickly became my new favorite.

Erica stood on the other side of the door.

"I saw you weren't… Are you sick?" She asked, completely cut off from what she was about to say. I'd never seen her look at me so warily before.

"Nope, just tired." I said scratching my ruffled, brown hair. "What were you saying?"

"Oh. Um, I saw that you weren't hunting, so I thought I'd drop by to see if you were up." She said.

"Do you usually watch me hunt?" I asked, slightly accusingly. She made that annoyed face of hers that I'd grown to love. Somewhere in it, was always a hint of truth.

"No." She blatantly denied. "But usually you're dragging your ass getting back to do your studying." She said, crossing her arms.

I noticed that the scent I'd taken in when I'd opened the door was coming from her. Something wasn't right and as I stood there, I started to finally feel out of place.

"Are you sure you're not sick?"

"No. I'm fine." I snapped. I didn't want to be mean, but I was sick of being looked at like a sick dog. I wasn't sick! And as I looked away from her worried face, I noticed something truly disturbing.

The mirror that my mother had bought me was right where I'd left it; leaning against the small dinner table. It's black rim was teaming with life as light snaked through the cracks in its frame. It was the greatest gift I'd ever been given. It let me see myself for the first time, and showed me how much like my mother I was. Yet as it stared at us from the table, all I saw was an opened door… and nothing else.


	4. Coven: Fending Off the Truth

"Are you sure you're alright?" She asked me again.

"Yeah." I said, tearing my sight from the forsakening mirror. It's betraying portrayal of Erica and I seemed to be holding itself to my spine, sucking the life right out of me as I tried to make since of what was happening.

_I'm not a vampire… _I thought, pushing the absurd possibility behind me. Though, I did see like one. And I did look like one in the mirror.

"Do I look sick?" I asked, not wanting to dance around the thought any more.

Erica nodded. "You look like the color had been drained right out of you." She stated, unconsciously forcing me too look at my hands. They weren't _that_ pale; there was still a small tinge of color to me… just not much of it. "Are you sure you don't have pneumonia or something? I mean, I know werewolves don't get sick, but after what happened yesterday…" She trailed off.

_After I killed a scared man…_ I finished. A sickening feeling of regret felt like it was lingering, but it wasn't coming any closer than that. It felt as though, I was finally inhuman. Even with the changes and the nightly hunts; the detachment from all of humanity and the thought of them as food, they all made me seem inhuman, but it was never an emotional response… until now.

"Why don't we watch some TV or something?" She asked, still looking into my eyes. I could practically see my worry through her own as I debated whether or not to even stay awake. "It'll help you get your mind off of things."

"Sure, let me take a bath and change real quick."

Even taking a bath seemed to bother me. As I ran my hand under the hot water, I couldn't find it as satisfying as when I usually took a bath. It was too hot, and so I turned it down. But with each turn of the knob, it still felt as if it was about to scald my skin. _This isn't right._

To my surprise, I'd ran out of hot water all together as I felt the plastic knob twist into the metal block that let me know it was off completely. I sighed, knowing this wasn't right. Straight cold water flew from the stainless steel nozzle, and when I ran my hand under it, the temperature felt just right.

I decided to just let my thoughts trail as I bathed in what felt like luke warm water. I knew better than to delude myself when something as strange as this happened, not that anything like this had ever happened before.

Finishing quickly as soon as the small splotches of dried blood was completely washed off of my smooth skin, I dried off and got dressed as quickly as I could. I didn't even bother to toss my clothes in the hamper; I just wanted to get out of there.

_It's going to be fine; I just need some fresh air._ I thought in my ever growing anxiety.

Passing through the hallway with my pajamas clinging to my damp skin, I made my way back down into the cellar. Erica had watched as I passed by her, but she didn't say a word. I knew she was thinking the same about my changes that I was. And that was dangerous. Rather, it felt like a dangerous subject as I tried to break from my mental prison. The walls of denial that I'd built up were starting to crumble fast, and I knew that sooner or later I'd have to admit it. _Shut Up!_ I yelled at my conscious.

I dug in my dresser furiously, and after picking out my random clothes for the night, I sidled the dresser, dropped my pajamas, and got dressed again. Even though she was my mother, it was still embarrassing to be seen so undignified. But thankfully, she was still asleep. _I shouldn't wake her._

With that thought, I was up and out of the cellar and beckoning Erica to join me outside.

"Would you wait?" She asked as she closed the door silently behind her. I was already on the Cobblestone road, pacing in the small layer of snow as I waited. "What's gotten in to you?" She asked angrily. "First you practically disappear with Angela for two nights and now you're… different." She stated. I couldn't help but feel that she, like me, didn't want to put two and two together. The conclusion would practically destroy my mother. And that was far from what I'd want.

_Maybe she'll accept me for what I am?_ I thought foolishly. After the first year of my being here, she was happy with me just the way I was. And now, I was something else, something terrible…

"What do you see in the dark?" I asked her out of the blue.

"What are you talking about?" She asked, grabbing my shoulders to settle me.

"When you're in pitch black, how can you see?" I asked again, trying to convey my question in a more understandable way.

"You mean how a vampire sees." She corrected me. Then as I glared at her, she answered. "Our heartbeats shine through our skin to give us light."

Have you ever been punched in the stomach? That's how I felt. As though the biggest, burliest man in the community had come over, and punched me square in the stomach. I felt it knot up around my insides, and I felt my heartbeat stop.

"What does that have to do with anything?" She asked, dropping to her knees to meet my gaze. I hadn't even realized that I was sitting. The snow felt like dirt against my elbows as I leant against the sidewalk.

"That's the light I woke up too this morning." I said simply.

"It's not that bad." She said defensively as we strolled around the forests edge. I wore very thin clothes on this night. Normally I'd be shivering by my lack of protection, but that was because I hated to draw attention to myself. I didn't like the awkward stares of my undead neighbors, nor did I accept their pity. _The poor wolf child, who wanted to fit in, finally has. _I though callously.

"I'm not worried about me." I admitted. "It's my mom. This won't be easy for her…" I said, stopping at a dead spruce. I ran my harsh hand over its dead bark, letting it tickle my palm. A small smile escaped my angry insides and blossomed into the world.

The thought of having a mother that would never die, was a dream for some children. Whether they knew it or not. No one wants their mothers to die, nor be in pain. Luckily for me, mine would only have to suffer pain. I'd protect her from death if I had too. But it was still a hurtful thought… something that ripped the serene smile right from my face.

"Angela will be fine. She's probably worrying about you as much as you are her." She stated in that matter-of-fact tone of hers. She could be a big know-it-all sometimes, but when she was, I believed her. She had that certain charm about her that helped me determine whether or not she was lying.

"You think?" I asked, taking my hand off the dying tree so that I could look her in the eyes.

She was smiling. At first glance, I thought she was smiling because I had finally become somewhat use to the idea that I might have crossed over into her territory. But when she spoke, I found that to only be a skeptical thought. "She's your mom."

"Yeah, she is." I stated.

"And you are such a mamma's boy." She said shoving me.

I shove her back. "Nah ah!" I denied falsely.

Some believed that vampires don't age, and it's a deluded myth; that's all. Vampires age if they don't drink from people. Sure animals suffice for a quick snack to hold them over, but every year, they age like humans. And if they went long enough, they'd eventually die of old age. Or so that's what Dominic says. Who was I to debate the subject?

Erica liked to keep her body hovering around sixteen. I wasn't sure whether or not it was because she wanted to stay beautiful forever, or it it was as simple as filling in the look of a baby sitter, but when she instigated a fight, she was right back at twelve along with me.

"Yeah, huh." She said shoving me again, getting ready to tackle me.

I tackled her first.

We kicked up a lot of snow as we fought for a top position, but as with every other time we'd fought, she'd push my arms out from under me and slide one right behind my back. "Who says uncle?" She said pulling my shoulder up. It wasn't a pain that I couldn't stand, but it would soon become so if I refused to give in.

"Me! Me! Uncle!" I said.

"That's a good dog."

"So do you think Angela will let you hunt with her?" Erica asked me as we turned the corner back to the cobblestone road. "I mean, she'll practically have to ask your mother."

"I hope you're right." I said smiling at the opportunities that. I'd begun chewing on the inner skin that lined my cheeks at the thought. My new fangs helped a lot at getting the peeled tissue off of the walls they clung too.

I was watching Erica's feet out of the corner of my eye as we walked, diverting them every time she looked over to me. I smiled at the prospect of my little annoying plan.

"Well, someone's going to have to teach you." She stated on the verge of chewing on her fingernails.

I changed my steps as soon as she turned away to pick at her nails. And that's when I struck. I leaned forward so I could push her right foot behind her left and she tripped, hitting the snow mid-curse.

I ran. I had too, otherwise she'd catch me, pin me to the ground and I'd be giving into my pain again.

My feet were catching the traction of the road as I ran, but it wasn't enough for me to run as fast as I'd wanted. And right when I'd thought I'd made it to my house before she could get me, her body slammed into the back of mine.

I fell forward into the soft blanket of snow, her knee instantly found my back as we skidded to a stop right in front of my mother's walkway. And as Erica fished my right arm out from under me, a soft voice spoke up to stop our fighting. "Ahem."

The two of us stopped fidgeting on the ground instantly. There, sitting on the same stone slab that I'd sat on the night before, was my mother and Dominic. My mother had been the voice to halt our nonsense.

"Oh, sorry to interrupt." Erica said. As she got up, I felt a wave of relief that I wasn't about to be in pain again. At least, until she pushed my head back into the snow to steady herself.

"Jerk." I muttered.

"Mutt."

"Adam, can we talk to you." Dominic said, his eyes rolled over too Erica. "In private."

I didn't know where this was going to go, but I really wanted Erica to stay. She'd eventually wrestle it out of me later anyway.

"Can Erica stay?" I asked, childishly.

My mother nodded as Erica was about to leave. Erica respected Dominic because of the great strides he'd brought their kind with this paradise of his. And she never questioned him.

I sat up on the snow, brought up my knees and wrapped my arms around them patiently.

"What's up?" I asked. _Please don't be bad news. Please don't be bad news._

"I speak both for your mother and I when I say that we have no idea what's happening to you." He said. Such a broad statement. They didn't know, I didn't know, no one knew! This wasn't news; this was a fact.

"And with that, I'm going to have to ask that you tell us everything that's changed with you." My mother said quickly. I could tell she was having a hard time coping with my erratic change, and I was too. But as she once told me, a great man, is a man who can take his hurdles in stride.

"Right now?" I asked.

They both nodded. Vampires were a strange bunch. They pretend to be human when around them, and after a long enough time, they start to become a single person. They all kept up with the small mannerisms of being human to the point where it became habit and their demeanors became almost bland. That's how they fit in. And I was seeing it threw new eyes.

"Well," I started. "I can see like you can. I have fangs now, and I'm not hungry." My mother's gaze hadn't changed as she sat there with her arms resting on her knees. Very human. Her sharp features were softer now as she listened and took in what I was saying; yet I couldn't tell if she was happy for me, or saddened by what I'd become.

"What about your other side? Can you change still?" Dominic asked. I could see where he was going with this, and I too was curious what a mixed bloodline would do to a person.

"I hadn't really felt the need." I said. Trying to summon my change, I felt it start to pull and release against my stomach. Everything was normal, and I hadn't worry that it wouldn't. If my changes were to be stopped so that I could be closer to my mother, then I was fine with it.

I halted the change as soon as I felt the warmth within start too surface. And as I took in a deep breath of air to calm my body down, I nodded. "I can still change. What does that mean?"

"That means that you're parents were from both species." He said simply. "And I'd really like to see your changed figure… if you don't mind, Angela."

My mother was silent as she waved her hand in an agreeing manner.

I ignored that Dominic had stood and gestured for me to do the same. Instead I inched over to my mom. Her eyes were looking right into my own, and stopped me inches from her hands.

"Mom?" I asked. "Are… are you angry with me?" I asked.

Her face was once a statue of controlled emotion. Strict features that held in strict thoughts. It was a feature that scared me. I didn't want my mother to worry about me, nor did I want her angry with me. These changes were no one's fault, so why was she so erratic on the inside?

After I'd asked her, though, her features changed completely. Those hard amber eyes were now tearing up. Her clenched jaw had become slack and sad. Those high cheek bones had receded in her worry and her true feelings were on display.

"I don't want to lose you." She said, getting up and walking in through the door.

I followed right behind her. "Mom, wait."

She wheeled around on me. What I saw in her eyes was a recognition that I'd always feared. She knew she wasn't my real mother, and so did I. But we both ignored it. There was no need for any strangers to come and whisk me away from her, and there was certainly no desire for it. Why couldn't she see that this was a good thing?

"Adam, go. I'll be fine here; I just want you to get this over with so you can come home." Her voice was laden with the threats of her anguish. I knew that if I left she would cry, and I didn't want that.

"You're not going to lose me, mom." I said, wrapping my arms around her and burying my face in her stomach. Her smooth skin warmed my pale cheeks as I held her in place. "I love you too much to let that happen."

I felt her arms fall around my shoulders as we stood there in the doorway. "I love you too Adam."

As we stood there wrapped in each other's embrace, I glanced across the entrance hallway and into the mirror that still leant against the table. In it, was nothing. There was no loving, worrying mother holding her caring son. There was no beautiful family wrapped together to stave off the sadness that surrounded them. There was only an opened door, and the abandoned town that lay beyond it under the night sky. _So be it._


	5. Coven: Adapting to Addiction

I didn't like the fact that I was being watched as I instigated a change. Humiliation and frustration was starting take hold of me as both my mother and Dominic watched from a distance. I could feel their anticipating glances peering into me as I knelt down on all fours to change. The comfort of the snow was keeping my mind aware that I was half-way through; _all I have to do is change and they'll stop watching._

My mother stood beside Dominic, a small smile on her face at how beautiful I would look once I'd changed into my wolf form. She said I looked perfect in that form. A solid white wolf with brilliant amber eyes, was the form she remembered me as. I knew this, because she told me so. But instigating the change was harder than I'd thought with an audience.

"Can you two please look away for a second?" I asked in my frustration. It was bad enough that I was bent in such an embarrassing position, but to have their eyes burning holes in my skin was starting to irk me.

"Sure."

"You're doing fine, Adam." They said, turning as I looked to them.

As my stomach clenched and my skin tensed, it started. The all too familiar burning sensation under my skin signaled that everything was going well. And before I even felt the pain of my bones being shattered for reconstruction, it was over.

Numb and shaking from the pain, I ruffled my fur and breathed a sigh of relief. There was a fear that I wouldn't be able to transform, but it was all right now.

As I howled for their attention, I noticed how high I stood. Usually I was much lower, but now, it was as if I was hovering above the snow. It was as if I was walking along its lovely, white blanket, weightless.

My mother's smile had been torn away from her at my sight. In its place was a look of wonder and awe. I'd never seen that look on her, and I wondered whether or not it was a good thing.

As I made my way over too them, I found that it felt odd to be walking on fours, and so I stood; the distance from the ground that I stood was much greater than how it was when I was normal. The breeze pushed in their scents too me and at first, I was overtaken by sadness. Their scents were back to normal.

Dominic leant over to my mom as I trudged towards them, "It looks as though your boy can switch between our kind and his own." He said under his breath. I heard every word and was glad to see my mom smiling again. I loved good news.

But as I drew nearer and nearer, something old and familiar started to take over. Hunger.

"I'm hungry."

The words escaped my mouth before I'd even realized I could speak. The two of them were especially confused. Wolves aren't supposed to speak. It was against nature… but then again I'd been breaking quite a few rules over the course of the week.

"Then go hunt."

As the days passed by, I started to realize how hard it was to control both sides of my anatomy. My werewolf side wanted constant control, but it couldn't tell me when I wasn't changed. As war of sorts had started to build in my mind after my first change in my new form, and it wasn't until I'd consumed half a dozen rabbits that I'd realized how controlling this side was. It took me over an hour just to tire myself out in order to change back, and even then it proved to be a harsh task. My body fought me constantly as I started to revert and by the end of it I just wanted to go back to bed.

And then there was my vampire side. It, of course, was docile and more timid in its commands. It would rather me stay the same rather than change and waste the night away. My eyes loved the sights of my new world, and my senses were ablaze with fascination as I looked up at the night sky. It begged me to use my strength against Erica, and even though I lasted much longer against her; I still couldn't best her.

My vampire side was extremely content with how I left it every night. It was almost as if it was more alive than I was. The calm control of my muscles, the responses from my reflexes, everything felt like a well oiled machine. At least until the thirst finally caught up to me.

I awoke in my bed with a strange tinge lying at the edge of my tongue. My teeth were clenched shut around my bottom lip drawing blood. Blood that tasted like heaven. It was all just a ploy for me to hunt, but I knew my mother had already had her meal for the month, well, her real meal. Usually she'd just track down a deer or something big in the Canadian forests. The more blood a creature had, the longer one could go without it.

"I'm thirsty." I said as my mother sat up in her opened coffin.

She hadn't slept with her coffin open in years. Not since I'd first gotten my bed. And even then she wasn't as restless as to wake up at the sound of my shuffling on my mattress. She'd been sleeping lightly ever since I'd become the hybrid I was now. And it was a serious blow to my confidence. To me, she still saw me as a child, and even though I was only twelve, I deserved a little credit, right?

I knew she was dreading this day, but food is food. I had to drink, and I wanted it to be from a human more than I'd wanted anything in my entire life. Visions of cornering a bank robber in a dark alleyway clouded my mind. The thought of danger only excited me as I began to envision a home invasion turned bad as a vampire came to save the day… All fiction. But who was to blame me, I was twelve?

"Just go take a shower." She said, rubbing her eyes as she climbed out of her black bed.

Remembering how comfortable it was to sleep in there with her, I yawned. I'd never slept as good in my bed as I did in that coffin. The soft, silk bottom was like sleeping on a cloud. And add the fact that there was no light what so ever in it, made it all the more appealing to me.

"Am I going to have to sleep in a coffin?" I asked.

"How are you sleeping in your bed?" She asked me back.

"Alright I guess."

"Then no."

Erica came to visit me while I waited for my mom to get back. While I showered she knocked on the door and told me to wait for her while she went out, and as Erica and I poured over a game of checkers, I couldn't get my mind off of where she'd gone.

For two hours, Erica yelled at me for cheating, which I wasn't, and I waited. Beating Erica at checkers was the only thing that I could do to best her. She was stronger than me; faster than I could ever hope to be, and she was a horrifyingly good climber. A fact that I begrudgingly had to carry with me ever since I'd raced her to the top of a dying spruce. But, in my defense, she did kick me off when we got near the middle. She said it was because I was hogging all of the good branches… yeah, right.

I jumped two of her red pieces and got my forth king. "King me."

"You suck."

"But you love me for it." I joked.

I watched her as she hovered her hand around all of her pieces trying to make a sensible move… there were none. She could have tried to coax me into jumping her only king and take three of my pieces when I didn't, but she wasn't that smart of a checker player. Chess; she could whoop my behind in, just not checkers. A very strange anomaly.

Her hand stopped over a lonely pawn, and she moved him into a safe zone.

I jumped three of her men and took another king. And the minute I said, "King me." The front door opened. My mother couldn't have been more on time, because Erica was seconds away from flipping the table and pinning me too the carpet.

"Here you go, Adam." My mother said, tossing me two thick, red bags. At first I didn't know what they were. I'd never seen them before. One was marked O positive, and the other was A B negative. It wasn't until I'd flipped them over and saw the St. Meridian Blood Drive sticker on the back that I knew what it was.

"That sucks." Erica said simply. The contents of the blood were warm and felt like she'd taken them right from the donor. Maybe this was better for me. Maybe this way, I didn't have to kill. My mother had never wanted me to kill, and with my first and only kill so far, my life had been turned completely around.

"Now drink." She said. She was smirking so slyly that she didn't have to watch me kill, that it almost seemed as though I was playing her in a game of checkers rather than my company. _I see where this is going._

"Can I get some salt?" I asked. My mother knew exactly what I was talking about. If I was about to drink this, I wanted as close to the real thing as possible. And even though I'd been kidding about the salt, the question still brought on the same effect.

We didn't have salt anyway. But I did have sense enough to know that the salt that lined the skin around a human was delectable. Especially when they'd been sweating as profusely as the hunter I'd taken down weeks ago.

"Don't be like that Adam. Just drink it so I don't have to worry about you running off with someone else too hunt." She said trying her compromise.

I rubbed my forearms against where I was going to bite in for the added taste. If this was how I was going to feed for now, I might as well make the best of it.

I hesitated over the thick plastic. My fangs were grazing it lightly as I debated whether or not to save it for later. But when a small slice appeared in the bag, all sense of why I'd hesitated vanished. Only a drop was excreted by the force of the bag, but it was enough for me to sink my fangs in as deep as possible and drink.

Its warmth splashed down my throat and I could feel the life inside of me renew itself. The taste was all you hear about in books now days, but it wasn't the focal point of the ecstasy. When the blood dispersed into my limbs, I felt the numb happiness that I'd felt the first time I'd tasted human blood. I could feel its instant course from my stomach guide it through my limbs and into my head. I could hear soft voices and even take in small fragments of my donor's memories. But it wasn't enough for it to stick to me.

As the first bag ran out, I gripped the second with dreadful quickness. My fingers dug in to the flat handle on the bag and I could feel my nails dig into my hand. Without a second to spare, I sank my teeth into the second bag. Again the blood splashed around in my mouth, and I gluttonously sucked it all away. My insides were on fire with the bloods response to my system. And an ecstasy rolled through me a hundred fold. My toes were curled as my feet moved along themselves. The cold skin met with the roughness of their bottoms and my hands were gripping into my palms. I'd never felt anything like it in the world.

"Not so bad, is it?" My mother asked, coming over to the couch that I sat against and kissing me on my head. "I got more, but if you want them you have to ask me."

"Can I have one more?" I asked.

She smiled at my exuberance. She knew that the thirst was still taking its effect on my system. But even though the thirst was still lingering in my system, she nodded. "Just one." She said.

She stood from the couch and passed into the kitchen to the freezer and pulled out one more bag. In my eyes, it was a bloated sack of pure joy that swung tantalizingly in her hand as she came right over too me.

She took her time sidling past me to sit, and took even longer as she debated whether or not to toy with me. Swinging the bag in front of my face, she laughed. Such a thing might have been a very odd thing to any normal person, but to Erica and my mother, it was the equivalent of waving a string in front of a kitten.

My weathered arms reached up lazily to grab at the bag, and my company laughed. Eventually I finally snagged it from my mother's swinging grip, and I slowly brought the cold release up too my mouth and I barely had the strength to puncture the thick plastic.

Once more, the blood washed my tongue with the taste of serenity and I was overtaken by its high. My euphoria had felt like it piqued when I finished my second; now I was on my third. I couldn't imagine the ecstasy that would over take me.

As the last of the bag had emptied itself into my stomach, I relaxed. The empty bags from my meal lay on the table in front of me, and weary eyed, I looked over too Erica. Her eyes were gazing at the bag with envy. But when she finally looked up at my mom, she smile. "Can I?" She asked.

I wasn't sure how my mother felt towards Erica. At times, she was my sister. But when my mother went hunting, she was her friend. So when she asked my mother for one, we had no idea of knowing whether or not she'd let her.

"Sure, but only one." My mother warned. "Adam, go sit around where Erica is so I can play." She said, helping me up so that I could re-situate myself.

After Erica had drank her meal for the night, we all gathered around the living room table and played a very long game of checkers. It wasn't long because we were fairly pitted against one another; it was long because of Erica and I kept fighting over the next move. Even after we split the turns in two we couldn't stop arguing. But we did enjoy each other's company. This was life for me. Comfort, love, and a great friend. And as far as I was concerned, I didn't want it too ever end.


	6. Coven: Protecting the Instigator

When I awoke the next morning, my mother was gone. Her scent still lingered in the air though. That soft smell of ripe citrus was quick to grace my nose with its presence as I sat up in my bed. As I shook the crust from my eyes and ran my fingers through my absurdly long hair, another scent caressed my senses. It was strong and musky. It almost smelled human if it wasn't so dirty…

I dressed quickly in the light of my heartbeat and jogged up the stairs, where the scent became overwhelming.

As I opened the cellar door and tried to rub the sleep from my eyes, I was greeted with a room full of strangers.

"This must be Adam." The man said. His long hair was black like an empty night sky, and his eyes were the deepest cobalt blue I'd ever seen. "My name's Marcus De Maul." He said holding out his hand for me to shake.

I took it, peering around the room at all the other men that stood at my presence. Why the formalities? I had no idea.

"Where's my mom?" I asked, letting go of his strong grip.

"He's so young." Someone said in the background. His voice was soft and sad. As if it was a tragedy for me to be so young.

"I'll grow." I said simply. Peering through the crowd to meet the green eyes of a worried looking young man. His hair was much shorter than the man called Marcus, and by their similar features I guessed them too be father and son.

"Excuse my son; he's never seen a vampire as young as you." Marcus said politely. I didn't really know how to react when he called me a vampire. My first thought was to correct him, but that wouldn't do me any good what so ever. I just wanted to know where my mom was.

"So, my mother?" I asked again. There were at least ten people standing around in my house, and all that was left of my mother was her sweet scent.

"She went for Dominic about two seconds before you came up." He said. His eyes didn't leave mine, and it was hard for me to leave his.

It was then that I realized that these people weren't people, and they most certainly weren't vampires. They were werewolves, like me… like I used to be. The four that sat at my mother's table, werewolves. The three that shared the couch, werewolves. The man before me and his son, werewolves. I'd never seen our kind before, nor did I want them here.

Instinct started to scratch at my surface. Their invasion on my territory had become apparent instantly, and as I swallowed my anger, I shuffled past everyone and went into the kitchen.

I wanted to drink a packet of blood before I went looking for my mom, but I knew it wasn't because I was thirsty. I just really liked the high, and with that I refused it. Besides, I'd think it to be rude for me to eat in front of guests.

"Something's not right about your scent." Said an angry looking man sitting at the table. His cobalt eyes were almost shining like the sun in their sockets. I remembered what Dominic had once told me. That when a werewolf feasts on a human, their eyes become blue. Did that make this man who sat three feet from me a monster? I couldn't tell.

His hair was cut short around the edges, but the top was slicked back and it made me wonder or not he'd jumped right out of west side story. His hands were clenched in fists and he was jittery. _Does he want to fight me?_ I asked myself.

"Maybe you should get some fresh air, it'll straighten that problem of yours right out." I said sneering at him. He was a jerk. The way he spat out my imperfection, and in my own home at that!

"Daniel! Mind your manners." Marcus yelled from the living room.

_Yeah, dog._ I thought angrily. It wasn't very often I got to use that insult and it felt good to be able too. I'd always felt that my wolven side was too demanding and controlling for its own good. It was just something that irked me.

I could see he wanted to yell back at me, but after his dad yelled at him, he was a little more docile. It didn't keep him from glaring at me as I walked over to the sink and filled myself a glass of water. Whereas most vampires didn't drink water, it was because their bodies had adapted to blood. And so if they did decide to drink water, they'd wind up with water in their veins. It wasn't fatal, but from what Erica told me when I'd first had a glass of water in my new form, it hurt like hell.

I was able to both drink blood and eat normal food. Not that I'd ever eaten normal food. A glass of water was all the normal I could get my hands on.

Daniel seemed to smile creepily at me as I took the glass of water. He was expecting me to be in pain, but as I gulped down the water, his smile turned to a look of wondrous rage.

With a smile, I placed the glass in the sink and merrily wished everyone a good night. Daniel was a bit less receiving of my good wishes.

As I closed the door behind me, I heard the sound of a chair being drawn out forcefully and then the door opening. I didn't need to turn around to see that I'd pissed Daniel off; it was what I was waiting for.

Daniel had to be almost twenty. Even though our kind supposedly slowed their aging after their eighteenth birthday. So if he looked twenty, he had to be at least twenty-nine. Almost thirty! Yet he still acted like a teenager. I was more of an adult then him, and that was saying something. If I could get him so pissed off as to follow me outside for a fight, what else could I instigate him into?

"Hey!" He yelled.

I turned on the ball of my right foot in the middle of the road.

"Go back inside." I said smiling. The feeling of control he was giving me was laughable. He was so angry that I knew he wanted to punch me square in the face.

"You're not a regular vampire are you?" He said angrily, squaring off with me yards from my mother's house. He wasn't in total control at all. _What an idiot! _I thought. _Do I really want to get into a fight over my territory?_

"So you say." I stated, keeping myself a mystery. Why should he know who or what I was? He had no right to even be on my property let alone interrogate me.

"Cut the bullshit!" He yelled. "If you're not one of them, than what are you?"

A warm hand rested on my shoulder. "He's my son, Dane. And I'd rather you pick fights with your own kind." She said. Her hand gripped my shoulder a little harder than I'd like and I knew that she was mad at me for leading him on.

"I'm sorry." I said rubbing my shoulder.

"Adam." My mother said as she watched him head back inside. "You can pick fights with Erica and that's all. These men are here to help us, so please, stay out of their way." She said pleadingly.

"Why do we need help?"

"Because that hunter from a few weeks ago had been declared missing by his town and their coming this way to search for him tomorrow morning. And when they come here, Marcus's pack will act as settlers here in the neighborhood to deter them from investigating our homes." She said looking me in the eye. "And I want you on your best behavior. Now go get Erica and keep her company. You know how she is around new people. So I don't think it'll be too hard for you to understand what it must be like for her to be surrounded by werewolves."

Erica had successfully gotten into an accelerated argument with every resident that I'd ever seen move in here. I didn't know why she hated new people, but she did. I guess she feared change. But who was I to guess. Only Dominic knew what went on in her erratic mind.

"Kay." I sighed, as if I had some enormous task to fulfill. But, it made my mom smile and that's all I could have asked for.

She kissed me on my forehead before sending me off to Erica's house.

It wasn't hard to tell she was awake when I got near. With her griping and complaining to herself about the horrible stench that was creeping around her house. I could hear the spraying of disinfectant coming from her living room. And the scent of candles hung around her door as I knocked on it.

"One second!" She said, spraying more and more of the disinfectant around her living room.

It took her about ten minutes of my knocking to get her to answer the door.

"What?" She yelled opening the door, then recoiling at my angry expression. "Oh. Sorry, Adam."

"My mom sent me over to tell you that the humans are going to be trailing through here in search of that hunter." I said, crossing my arms. "You could have answered the door the first time, you know."

She glared at me. "Sorry, but this smell is driving me crazy. I though you of all people would understand my distress."

"Dominic called in Marcus's pack to substitute for us while we slept. Just in case the search party decides to investigate our homes."

Her eyes widened. "There are werewolves here?" She whispered in fear. I was taken aback by her sudden change in tone. Why would she be scared of a few werewolves? They were here to protect us, and other than their invasion on my property, I didn't see any reason to fear them.

"Yeah, they're all at my mom's house right now. Why?"

She pulled me into her house and slammed the door shut.

Her house was exactly like my mother's. Every piece of furniture, every piece of silverware, everything was exactly the same. That's how all the houses were. Sure there were a few less knick knacks lying around in Erica's house, but that was beside the point.

"I sort of got in a fight with one of them while I was on my way to hunt one night." She said in a hurried tone.

"What? Why?"

"You know how territorial they are!" She said in defense.

"Well how long ago was it?" I asked, praying she'd say years ago.

"Last month. I think I broke his nose, or muzzle."

_Crap._

I spent the better part of the night with Erica, and when I saw that it was almost three in the morning, I reluctantly said my goodbye. She didn't take it like I'd hoped.

"I'm coming to stay with you two today. I don't want to risk running into whoever I attacked." She said in that fearful voice of hers. She was truly scared as she held my arm tightly. I didn't know how this was going to work. If she was so scared of them, then she'd have to get over it soon because they were all sleeping in my house right now. With my mom's tolerance of their scent, it was the only place that they _could_ spend the night.

Sure they could have taken one of the many empty homes, but I was sure my mother and Dominic wasn't so rude as to stick our guests in a house without electricity. Especially during the winter.

And so, we had to sneak in.

A bit of knowledge for the unknowing; in the entire community, only one house had its windows locked, and that was Erica's. At least tonight they were. Any other night, this place was like a robber's wet dream.

This knowledge helped us greatly as we snuck in through the master bedroom window. It slid up and then back down without a sound, which was an amazing feat seeing as how it had probably never been opened.

I crept ahead of Erica and opened the bedroom door, still no sounds. After looking down the hallway and seeing no one, I waved her foreword. I didn't dare look back to see her scared face. Mostly because if she was afraid, I'd become afraid. It was a social defect of mine to adapt to whoever was around me, and something I usually didn't mind. But tonight, I'd wish I didn't feel her fear.

Quickly and silently, I neared the edge of the hall and when I saw that no one was awake, I waved her forward once more; opening the cellar door to my right.

The floor creaked under her weight and she broke out into a silent run, half-scaring me to death. _Quiet!_ I thought loudly. I didn't want to wake them with no idea of who she'd attacked. There was an imminent danger building around us as she passed me and disappeared into the darkness. I followed her closely, closing the door behind me. _Home free._

I ran right into her as I turned to descend down into my sanctuary. "What are you doing?" I snapped at her, forcing myself in front of her so I could finally get to bed.

And at the bottom of the stairs, were a single pair of bright, cobalt blue eyes. Their glare was a penetrating force that struck me harshly as I slowly came to a stop half way down.

Dane sat on the last step, glaring at us as if we were his enemy. From what Erica had told me, only one of us was, and I was hoping I was wrong. I didn't want to start a fight in my home, nor with his absurd amount of back-up sleeping idly in living room and kitchen.

"Nice of you to join us." He stated coldly.

Thankfully my mother's voice called my name from the deeper darkness. It wasn't as dark as it should have been, what with the fire going and all. "Is Erica with you?" She asked, noticing the scent.

Before I could respond, Dane spoke up. "You look familiar…"


	7. Coven: The Deomon Known as Deitre

Erica's body was radiating fear. I could smell it. Her scent which was once like a freshly mowed lawn was now clouded with the smell of decay. A sense of dread had altered her in such a way that even though I wasn't touching her skin, I could feel the sweat escaping her pores.

"_You_ were the vampire that attacked Tony!" He said getting to his feet. His eyes were narrow slits of anger feverishly looking over her for assurance. And his smile was curved and disturbing. He had pegged her instantly as the enemy.

I gripped both rails to the stairs instantly blocking his path to her. If he _was_ going to do something, he was going to have to get through me first. I didn't care that he was older, nor that he might have been stronger than me. I still had the element of surprise on my side, and that should be enough to slow him down so Erica could escape.

The problem was, we were in the cellar of a house full of werewolves.

"Dane, do not start a fight in my house." My mother warned sternly. Her voice was low and angry, like that of the lioness she was when it came to Erica's and my own protection. "Now sit back down and let them pass."

His smile died down a little, but still lingered like a canker sore.

I passed him first, and watched as he kept his gaze on Erica. I was ready to change if the situation called for it, but when she passed him, neither made any hint of an altercation. She passed him with her eyes concentrating on the brimming fire in our cellar fire place, and he watched her closely as she passed him at the cramped entrance. And once she was free, she went straight to my mother's side.

"Thanks." Erica whispered, putting her hands in front of the fire, pretending to warm them. The two of them were quite a pair. I always thought it funny that they'd hide what they were, even to their prey. But I guess the more you practice, the more human you can look.

I decided against the ruse, seeing as he already knew what we all were, and hopped in my bed. I kicked my feet up over one another and rested my head on my pillow; letting the heat from the vent take me away to a better place.

I didn't sleep but an hour when I heard the cellar door open then close. Some words were exchanged that I couldn't remember, and when I'd finally decided enough was enough, I sat up and wrenched my head towards our new guest.

"Oh." He said softly. "Sorry to wake you." He was stoking the fire as he sat near it, but his gaze was at mine. Just like his father, he stared at me as if wanting to ask me a question. I wondered if he'd be the one to ask if so.

I let my gaze become softer, because it wasn't like he was deliberately trying to wake me. He just didn't know how sensitive my hearing was. If it was anyone's fault, it was mine for letting Dane worry me so much about Erica's safety. Who, for the night, was cramped up in my mother's coffin. The thought made me smile. _They're probably both uncomfortable. _

"That's no problem." I said drearily. _He's just trying to stay warm… I just wish he'd stop looking at me._ "Marcus gave me the same look last night." I said, forcing him to divert his eyes. He smiled as he did so.

"You're hair and eyes remind me of my Grandma Gretchen." He said reminiscing in some warm memory of her.

"Is she still alive?" I asked, too tired to filter my questions.

"I'd like to think so. She's a vampire." He said adding another log to the fire. He couldn't see my shock, nor my unease.

I wasn't sure which of my parents was which, but this was an interesting coincidence. Add on the fact that I apparently looked like his grandmother, Marcus's mother… _That doesn't make since. I'm only twelve, and Marcus looks to be at least forty-something!_

"I understand that you're also a mix." He said turning his gaze back to me. After what he said, I couldn't help but feel a brotherly warmth wash from him to me.

He laughed softly at my unease. "You don't have to be so secretive about it. You don't smell like them at all, you know."

"Do the others know?" I asked, a sort of dread started crawling around somewhere in my lungs as I waited for an answer. But instead of answering me quickly, his warm smile brought itself back to his face.

"I'm the only one with a nose strong enough to notice." He said, "So you don't have to worry about the other's finding out any time soon."

"Thanks."

"You're welcome."

I was too awake to fall back asleep, and even though I knew it was still morning, I sidled my feet over my bed and watched as he stoked the fire into just the right position to catch.

"So are you the same as me?" I asked, not being able to let our similarities go. I knew from Dominic that having a mixed bloodline meant that you were a spinning roulette table and your anatomy was the ball.

"Nope. Marcus, Dane, and I are the normal ones in the family." He said. "Why? Are you different from the others in the coven?"

It never crossed my mind that I should hide what I could do from him, and most of it was due to his kind, soft words and his curious nature.

"I use to be just like you about a month ago." I said, catching his attention.

"What happened? Did someone bite you or something?"

"No," I said smiling at the thought, "Nothing like that."

Though it wasn't very hard for me to tell him what had happened with the hunter, I found out by his shocked expression that I had never truly learned the value of a humans life. They'd always been food to my mother and Erica, and even to my instincts. All of us, even caring Wilson, was a natural predator. We were made to survive off of them if our conscious minds saw fit, and there was nothing that would ever change that.

"And ever since, I'd been more like my mother than my original kind."

"So you can't change anymore?" He said. I could feel the regret in his voice. I knew how much the changes affected me, and I knew he would never want to go without it. The thought even made me shiver.

"I can still change, but it's different than when I was normal." I said, no hint of regret in my voice. I liked my new form, but not as much as I did the last. With my increased size and larger muscles, it was harder to creep along the snow and sneak up on my prey. But then again, I had a much greater deal of speed in that form and was strong enough to take a moose down if I'd wanted. _Too bad they don't come around here._

"How so?"

"I'd rather not say." I stated. This was my little secret and the only two who knew my secret was my mother and Dominic. And I knew they'd leave that secret for me to tell. "I like to think of it as insurance, though." I said, bringing an understanding smile to his face.

"Fair enough."

A howl broke through the silence outside.

"The town's people are on their way." He said, scooting up closer to the fire. He was freezing in here. Even with the heaters on full blast he shivered down here in this dark little sanctuary of mine.

I pulled the tucked comforter from the foot of my bed and handed it to him. "You're not going to help them?" I asked.

He gratefully took the blanket from my hand and wrapped it around his shoulders. "No. It's not like they really need my help though. We're not fighting a war; we're just keeping the ignorant, ignorant."

I liked the way he put it. Simple and honest.

"Besides, I think I'm about to catch a cold."

I fell asleep to Wilson telling me about his grandmother. He told me how she'd been so nice to them when they came to visit, and even though she didn't eat, she would spend every meal with her grandsons. His grandfather's name was Demitri Windgates. A name that regrettably didn't ring a bell. When I'd asked why his father didn't share the name Windgates, he told me that he's yet to meet a werewolf that took his father's name. In their culture, their mother's were the most important thing in their lives. And so Marcus took Gretchen's name, De Maul. Wilson took the name Dirge from his mother, and Dane took the name Thomas from his. I started to wonder after a while what my name would have been if I knew my mother.

It right before I'd went to sleep that Wilson said that he'd had an uncle. But he'd never met him. He'd been the one in the family to take after both his mother and father. Marcus had hinted to him that he was diseased and soon died after Marcus had started his own pack… but that was the extent of what he knew.

_Such a sad story,_ I thought as my eye's drifted shut and my mind deluded itself to a dream…

I was hunting in my dream. The soft scent of a woman's perfume clung to my nose like a loving embrace, calling me to kill. Her figure was running as fast as she could in the distance, her face was hidden by the shadows of an old building littered with child-like drawings stapled all along it's halls.

Christmas lights were hung on dilapidated doors, broken and dead as I chased her deeper into the darkness. My paws slapped the slick marble floors as I beckoned for more speed.

She turned suddenly down a narrow passage leading into the boiler room. The red lights were surprisingly alive as I made the same turn, and it stunned me momentarily as I gazed down the stairs. She had just made it to the bottom and ran even further into its depths.

My mouth watered and my heart was aching for her sustenance. I was both hungry for her, and thirsty for her blood. Both of my instincts were conjoined as I imagined how she would taste, and my fangs were grinding against each other as I jumped past the steps.

She was cornered.

There was nowhere to run now. There were no windows to crawl out of, and there were no more passages for her to disappear through. There was only one way out, and I was blocking it.

As I stood on my hind legs and stalked over too her, I finally saw her face.

Those beautiful grey eyes were caressed by her straight, red hair. Her thin cheeks, wore pain and fear as I stopped. She backed away from me. Her mouth was parted, as if she wanted to speak, but she couldn't. Instead, she cried. Erica cried.

Pain blistered in my heart as I felt the magnitude of what I planned to do. The thoughts of drinking her dry and eating what was left became suddenly sickening, and I felt as though I might vomit. Every ounce of my being had told me she was my prey, betraying her like she meant nothing. My mind was a torrent of disastrous thoughts.

As I turned to leave her to her fear, I was met with two more figures.

One was my mother, angrily glaring at me from the stairway. Her arms were crossed and her lips were pushed together curtly. "Adam! What on earth are you doing?!" She yelled.

The other woman also spoke up. "Deitre." The name was foreign, but I recognized it instantly as my own.

Her hair was a glowing brown swell of curly hair. The image made me think of the mirror my mother had gotten me. But what shown more from the dark, red atmosphere, were her brilliant amber eyes. "That's not how I raised you!" She yelled.

The world turned black as the image of the two women began to converge. Their being shook and distorted, growing around the room until there was nothing.

I awoke to my body sweating and disoriented. My head was a swirl of hunger and fear as I kicked myself up against my headboard. "I don't want it!" I screamed, remembering how badly I'd wanted to take Erica's life. "I don't…"

My mind began to clear as the dark room came into focus.

Sitting near the dimming fireplace was Wilson and his father. I looked to them and I couldn't keep the name from escaping my lips. "Deitre." I whispered.

Marcus's eyes went rigid with an intense focus on my own. "Where did you hear that name?" He asked me coldly.

My mother's figure ran too my bed and she held me close to her. I'd never felt so cold and heartless as I did waking from that dream. It was a nightmare! A haunting delusion of fear and desperation. And it shook me to my core. It shook me in such a way that I could answer Marcus's question. I couldn't think. It hurt to know that I had that kind of desperation in me, and it killed me to know that something like that _could_ happen.

"It was only a dream." I assured my mother, still shaking under her warm embrace. I buried my head in her shoulder and took in her scent to calm me down, but it wasn't helping. I'd been hungry in my dream, and I was hungry now. Rather, thirsty.

"Where did you hear that name?" Marcus demanded, raising his voice as he stood up straight.

"The woman in my dream called me Deitre." I answered, keeping my face buried in my mother's loving embrace. I could sense her worry for me, even as my shaking calmed down some. _It was only a dream,_ I told myself, over and over. _Only a dream…_

"She looked like me." I said, tears escaping my closed eyes. I ripped myself away from my mother. "I don't want it…" I said, my stupor was emerging from my swirling mind. The dream had taken me by storm, ripping me from my sanity completely as I brought my nails into my forehead.

Blood seeped from the slices I'd made, and the scent forced me to push myself further and further into the corner, away from the concerned faces of everyone in the room. "I don't want it. I don't want it." I repeated, my nails drove themselves up into my hair, cutting at my scalp like a knife.

"Adam!" My mother screamed, quickly sliding next to me. "What's wrong?" She said, wrenching my hands away from my head.

I looked at the blood on my hands and something inside burned for more. _More… more blood… feed…_ My instincts were erratic as I tried to pull my hands to my mouth. My stomach clenched, my skin started to burn, and my anger began to flood my veins… I was changing.

The sounds of my shirt ripping seemed to overtake the screaming between the people around me. All I saw was my hands, covered in my blood. All I wanted, was more…

My mother let go of my hands as Marcus pulled her away from me. Wilson wasted no time in grabbing up Erica from the coffin and they both disappeared up the stairs, leaving me alone with my fear and my rage.

I'd ripped my torn clothes from my massive body and roared at my family's capture. Blinded by anger and fear for their safety, I followed quickly up the stairs, exploding through the cellar door.  
The house was a hurricane of excitement as its occupants ran in all directions to escape the great white beast I'd become.

"Where are they!?" I roared.

The sounds of my mother calling my name came from the front door. They sounded to me like cries for help and with that delusion I leapt into the kitchen, smashing the table and bolting for the front door. I'd blown through it like a missile as it splintered in all directions.

I was quickly met with a slew of changed werewolves, and none of them were keeping me from my family.

They backed off as I charged, but before I could kill them, my mother screamed my name. "ADAM! NO!"

I had become stiff and unmoving as my glance shot in her direction. She was packed around a tightly knit circle comprised of everyone who wasn't changed. "Let her go!" I roared.

Everyone had stopped moving. It was as if the world had been paused; only the wind blew.

My chest rose and fell feverishly as I waited for them to get away from my mother. The crowd was reluctant to even move let alone watch her come near me. I was a monster to them, to all of them. I was an out of control abomination of mixed blood, enraged by my own insanity.

Slowly, my mother moved through the crowd, her figure sidled between her captors and once she was free, my breathing slowed.

"Mom." I called softly.

As I moved forward something small and fast flew into me. I recoiled and nearly fell back at the sight of something so strange.

Before me was a small boy, younger even than me with wild, black hair and glowing green eyes.

I watched in awe as he placed his small hand up against my chest and smiled up at me. "Deitre. It's going to be alright." He said.

I raised my hand, debating whether or not to strike him down, but the boy didn't flinch. Instead he placed another hand on my fur and sighed. "It's not what your mother would want." He said softly. His tone had become sad and low as his smile faded. "She's your life." He said.

From his hands, came a warmth unlike any I'd ever felt before. It was lava hot, but it didn't burn me. Instead, I could feel it soothe away all of my insanity. My muscles became loose and uncoiled. My body felt as though it was melting away in the presence of this small child. This small, human child.

Before I knew it, I was normal again. Kneeling in the snow, with my arms wrapped around chest; bent over and crying. "I don't want this…" I said. "I never wanted this…" I gasped. My breath felt as though it would never be caught. Pain raced through my lungs, and burned against my chest. I could only squeeze my arms around it tighter.

Within seconds, my mother's arms had found me. Lost and alone in my darkness, I felt as though I'd never be happy again… my mother would never be happy again.

"It's not your fault." She whispered in my ear. "You're going to be fine." She assured me.

I laughed a little at how insane she sounded.___ I just wrecked our home to steal you away from the people who tried to save you from me… I'm far from fine…_

"Adam, look at me." She said, rubbing her hands against my bare shoulders. "Look at me." She said again when I didn't respond. I couldn't. I couldn't look up to her. I couldn't bear the thought of seeing her worry, nor her fear. I couldn't…

Her hand found the tip of my chin and warmed around my tear stained skin. She lifted my gaze softly into hers and to my shock, she was smiling. "There's my boy." She said, calming me. "That's my son that I love." Her words were an audible comfort to my ears, and I could not deny their truth.

"I'm sorry." I said, praying she could forgive me. In my mind, there was no way she could forgive how I'd hunted after her. I was ready to kill for her, and I was sure that the notion was less than flattering.

"There's nothing to be sorry about, Adam." The sound of my own name was all that I could ask from her. I hated the name Deitre. What it did to me; how it had made me act… was unforgivable.

"Are you thirsty?" She asked, trying to coax me into sitting up.

I nodded.

My mother looked up into the crowd that had once contained her. "Erica, go inside and grab a blanket and something for Adam to drink." She said softly before turning her attention back to me. "Everything's going to be alright. I promise."


	8. Coven: Guardian

Melted snow clung to my knees as I sat on the couch in my mother's house. My cold body kept it from melting as I waited for everyone outside to stop talking. With a blanket around my shoulders and the warmth of the home taking hold over me, I stared at the bright red package in my hands. My food.

The thick plastic bag was still wet from the warm water that was used to thaw it, warm water that made it a hot meal. I thumbed the warm blood around with the plastic membrane as I thought about what I'd done. The house was a mess.

The coffee table had been flipped when I rampaged through the house after my mother. Whoever had been sitting where I sat now had been in such a rush that they'd kicked it over in their panic. I was guilty for everything that had happened here.

I bit my upper lip hard as I held the blood in my hands. It wasn't something I could refuse myself. I feared that if I would, I'd revert back to the raving monster I'd been minutes ago.

Erica walked slowly around the kitchen wall and peered in at me through the doorway into the living room. She'd been caught completely off guard by what had happened and knew nothing about why I'd reacted to my dream in such a way.

I looked over too her, right into those beautiful grey eyes. Her pale skin was even paler than it had been the night before. _She probably see's me as a monster._ I thought worriedly.

"Aren't you going to eat?" She asked me. Her voice was soft and almost inaudible. I'd never heard her so concerned for me.

I bit into the pack to keep myself from talking. I didn't want her to know anything about that dream. I didn't want her to know how I'd wanted to rip her flesh away in gluttonous gulps.

The blood in the pack was just as delicious as I'd remembered it. The warm syrup like texture cascaded around the inside of my mouth as I took it in drought after drought. Ecstasy rolled through my system, and heat reawakened my body. Enough so to melt the snow that clung to my knees. _This is what heaven must taste like_, I thought as the last little bit of it was being sucked out of the bag and washed down my throat.

I could feel the contents of my once empty stomach flood through my veins and reach my head and heart. The rampant beating that had once been fueled by anger and fear was now caused by ecstasy and joy. Everything about blood was perfect.

Pulling my fangs from the bag, I closed my lips and sucked the blood away from my teeth. Its final swallow was deluded, but still better than anything I'd ever taken in.

Erica had sat next to me while I drank from my rations. Taking the empty bag from my shaking hands, she handed me another. "Don't tell your mom I prepared two, alright?" She said, smiling into my eyes. She did her best to hide her fangs when she smiled, and it made her smile seem forced, even though I knew better.

"Thanks." I said flatly, trying to smile back. I didn't feel much like smiling tonight.

Before I could bring the bag to my lips, she hugged me. "I don't care what happens to you, Adam. I'll always love you." She said as she squeezed me close to her. "No matter what."

My body went rigid under her touch, for fear that I might hurt her, but it soon became loose and receiving as I wrapped my arms around her as well. There were no words that I could convey to her to tell her how sorry I was. Nor were there any to convey my gratitude. "That means a lot to me." Would have to do.

"Now drink." She said releasing me and wiping a stray tear from her eyes.

I did just as she commanded without question. Except after my first gulp, I pulled it away.

"Do you want some?" I asked her, holding it out to her. "I'm feeling full." I lied.

She smiled at the gesture and took the token of apology from my hands. They were no longer shaking. Instead, they were stock still, and in total control. It was a great feeling to not be shaking anymore.

"Marcus! Stay out of that house!" I heard the small boy yell. His voice was commanding, making me jump by how loud he was.

"He's _my_ brother!" He yelled. "And I'm not letting him slip away from me again!"

I heard footsteps near the door, but they were cut short by a thump and sounds of someone being thrown into the snow.

The small boy was in sight standing in the kitchen facing the door. Angela ran around him to me.

"You're just going to upset him! When he wants' to see you, he will. He's in control now so he's not going to be slipping away from you any time soon!" The irony in which he conveyed to me when he told Marcus he'd just upset me was almost funny. It made me smile. This boy who seemed to act much older than he was scared the crap out of me as he yelled.

"Wilson, keep your dad from the house." He commanded, turning around to meet my gaze. Then he smiled. "Sorry about that."

I smiled a small thanks to him, but was still a little wary about what was going on. He was a strange child, who walked like a man around the kitchen, and without any effort, picked up one of the chairs and brought it into the living room. He set it down gently on the carpet and sat down across from us.

My mother had climbed to my left, not wanting to disturb Erica as she sat next to me.

The boy sighed as he leant on his knees. "Sorry, but this is my first try at fixing you." He said, staring into my eyes. I had no idea what he meant.

"I don't even know where to begin."

"Who are you?" I asked. Inadvertently starting him up on his story.

"Sorry, how rude of me. My name is Derryl A. Treadway." He said holding out his hand. The same hand he used to calm me down. I took it without question. "I'm what you'd call a reincarnate. Someone who, after death, relives their life. Do you understand?"

_Not really._ "Yes."

"Excellent." He rubbed his hands together to stave off the cold. "I'm pretty sure you don't want to hear this; but when I first met you, you were chewing your way through an entire community about sixty miles away from here. This was only one lifetime ago, mind you so you haven't become _that_ yet."

Fear rolled in on my like a tidal wave. Images from my dream came into play and I gripped Erica's hand.

"Before that, you killed everyone here in the coven, lost your mind from the guilt, and spent twenty years stuck in the form you hold now." He said. "I'm sorry, but you have to know this." He could see right through my fear.

"You'd deluded yourself into thinking your mother had abandoned you, and so you spent year after year hunting her down. With every woman you met who looked anything like Angela, you stalked them. And when you saw that they weren't your mother, you consumed them completely. You were a walking tragedy that left death and destruction behind your every step."

"Is there any way you could be a little gentler about this?" My mother snapped.

The boy's angry expression towards my mom shocked me. "If I brighten the story with colorful characters and dumb it down, he won't grip the reality of it all properly. The magnitude of which he could change this world is staggering." He said coldly.

"Now. When I first found you, I tried to calm you. It didn't work out as well as I'd hoped because you ripped off my arm and killed me." There was no unforgiving malice in his voice. There was only truth. It was like being told a story from a book. No emotional attachments were apparent.

"I was almost sure that you'd kill me when I calmed you down this time." He said, smiling at his luck. "If you had though, I'd only have to wait another six years to meet you."

"How is this going to help me?" I asked.

"I know where your mother is."

_My mother's right next to me._ I thought protectively, knowing what he meant. "I don't need her." I said defending my mother. "She's just as prepared to handle me as my real mom."

My mother's tight grip around my side was tightening.

"Look. Whether you like it or not, she's the only one who knows what's going on inside of you. And whatever it is, kept you four years old for almost eighty-five years now." He said.

My eyes widened. "How old am I?" I said in my shock. There was no way I was that old. I couldn't be that old. I had no memory of ever living before my mother found me in the cellar.

"You're Marcus's older brother, Adam. And you should be about eighty or ninety years old now."

I felt as though the life had just been pushed out of me. _That's impossible…_ Erica was only sixty-seven.

"But I wasn't a vampire before my mother came." I argued.

"Your body adapts to your situation." He replied simply.

"But that's impossible."

"It's really not. Something happened to you after Marcus left his parents and started his new pack. Something traumatizing and it made you forget everything." His knees were bobbing up and down as he furiously tried to get me to believe him.

"Which is why Angela has to find your real mother." He finished.

"Wait, why me?" My mom asked. "I'm not about to leave my son here after what happened with the pack!" She argued.

"Because, Adam isn't fast enough, Erica isn't fast enough, and Gretchen hates me. As a matter of fact, she'd probably kill me on sight if I went looking for her."

"That doesn't answer my question. You know just as well as I do that there are hundreds of other vampires who would be willing to help. Dominic would be the first to lend a helping hand." My mother fought. She pulled my had into her chest as she cursed at the boy. I could barely hear the harsh words that escaped her mouth, and before I knew it, she'd released me.

The boy sat there with his eyes narrow and angry at whatever she'd said, but even then, he couldn't hold his anger. His face turned completely around and he smiled slightly as he opened his mouth.

"You two have something in common." He said. "You both love and adore Adam." His words were a simple, unbridled truth.

The wolves were gone by the next night. Marcus had put up quite a fuss about the boy kicking him out of the coven's territory that I doubted he'd ever return. I remember Marcus swing at the small boy as if he were the enemy, and without any effort, the small boy grabbed Marcus's arm, lifted him over his head and threatened to rip him in half if he didn't calm down. I was much more than amazed.

Marcus. My brother, let in a torrent of curses and misused adjectives. He was belligerent about having to leave me behind with all of my bloodsucking friends. His words. But he left regardless. I wished that the day would come when I could go visit him and find out how I use to be. Whenever he'd look to me, his eyes would be so full of hurt that he couldn't be near me, that the hurt drove itself into me. We shared those little pains whenever we were around each other.

Wilson, my nephew, believe it or not, was a little less angry about the whole ordeal. "See you later." He said to me as they left. "Come and visit any time. I'd love to hear more about your life."

Dane was a totally different person around me. His little glares and angry inflections were all gone when he was near me. Instead, to my dismay, was a pity that I didn't like being shoved down onto me. It was as if I'd already become the walking tragedy that he knew nothing about. He seemed to hate the fact that I looked so young. It was something we all would have to get over eventually.

The horrible thing about that night, was that they weren't the only one's leaving.

My mother, regardless of how many times I tried to talk her out of it, was already packed and ready to go. I'd never cried so hard in my life, as I did when she was out of my view. Slung over her shoulders was a small bag filled with her clothes, and walking beside her, were Dominic and Derryl. Dominic was packed just as well as my mother. Just a few change of clothes for their journey.

Before my mother left, she interrogated Erica to the point of making her cry. She beat into her the locations of over eight safe houses for her and I to go to if anything went wrong until she could recite them in her sleep; along with the address to the correspondence school where I got my books and homework from. She even made her memorize the contact numbers for Erica to use if we had to vacate. She was forceful about my schooling. She didn't actually hit Erica, but her words were harsh and filled with anger. Just in case I wasn't in perfect condition when she got back.

"Come on." Erica said, turning me away from the path out of the coven. "Let's get you to my house and watch some TV." Her voice was sad and tired. "Tomorrow I'll teach you to quick step, just in case."

"Quick step?"

"Quick step." She said, guiding me towards the forest.

Tonight was a beautiful night. The snow fell like a shower of white beauty as we walked in a quick pace towards the forest.

"It's the epitome of speed for our kind. We could travel hundreds of feet in a single step if we wanted." She informed me. "We use to use it to shoot from sanctuary to sanctuary if we had to escape into the sunlight." She said.

This was the first I'd ever heard of it. But then again, when Dominic had saved me from that hunter, I guess he used this trick to catch the man's arm before he could gun me down.

"So how does it work?" I asked.

"It's kind of hard to explain. But, I'll do my best." She said, shoving me softly as she ran forward.

One second, she was playfully jogging. The next, she was two hundred yards out leaning against the edge of the forest.

"Just try and force yourself over to me." She yelled.

_What the hell kind of advice is that?!_ I thought as I skipped forward to start my run. I tried with all my might to run fast enough to make it work, but all that happened was me running normally over to her. Angry and confused at why it was so easy for her.

"Alright. Now try thinking urgently that you _have_ to be…" She looked around for a good landmark. But when she realized we were completely surrounded by trees, she sighed. "Just pick a tree far away and do as I say." She said in her surrender to our surroundings.

I looked out and picked a tree pretty far out before prepping myself to run. "Any other advice?" I asked before taking off.

"Try real hard?"

"Good enough." I said laughing.

I kicked off the snow and started barraging my mind with urgent thoughts. _I have to be there!_ I screamed.

The rush of wind took me totally by surprise. My eyes could barely concentrate on my surroundings. The force of which my legs were pushing me made the wind around me condense and enclose around my body. I felt trapped, like I wouldn't be able to stop. And when I finally came up on my target, I started to skid.

It wasn't enough.

The force, of which I'd slammed into the tree, was staggering. I didn't _just_ hit the tree. I sheered right through its tough trunk and slammed into another. My arms and legs flailed around the large trunk that had stopped me, and the snow that had gathered at its peak fell on me. It was an insult to injury kind of moment.

The only thing I remembered as I slid off the tree to black out was the sound of wind rushing against my ears… and laughter.

I awoke to Erica running melted snow over my face. "Come on. Wake up." She said, still laughing. I felt a little embarrassed that I'd have done such a thing. But as soon as I woke up, I couldn't stop laughing.

"I hit a tree." I said between gasps of laughter.

"Yeah, I saw that." She said, running her hand over my face to clear away the half-melted snow. "Next time, just remember to take your mind off of the urgency and it'll be as easy as breathing."

"Thanks." I said as she helped me up. "I'll keep that in mind."


	9. Coven: Our New Home

Erica trained me on the quick step for about a week before I could finally get it down without running into anything. Thankfully, my body was in such a shape that I could deal with the forceful stops. Being unnatural did have its many advantages. And I was eternally grateful for that.

About a week after that, she started training me on sight. Rather, how to spot landmarks during the quick step to keep it going for long distance runs. That was a difficult task and proved to be a treacherous journey for me. With everything that was going on around me, it was extremely difficult to pick out landmarks from the walls of passing obstacles constantly shifting and changing near me. The turning killed me. I couldn't stop and turn like she could, but by the end of that week, I was a pro. At least, compared to what she wanted me to do.

And then, out of the blue, we were being kicked out of the coven. I won't go into any great detail, mainly because it was so petty and childish on the coven's part, that it doesn't deserve the mentioning. But whether or not it was a worthy story, we were being kicked out.

I half expected Erica to strangle the head of their little committee, Hendrix. He was my neighbor for over six years, and now he was our evictor; telling us that they didn't want any more trouble from the likes of me, and that they wanted us out by the next morning. _What a dick!_

Erica had told me to pack my clothes and my books, and she packed her clothes. Unfortunately there was no way we could bring her coffin, nor my few packets of blood in the freezer. That would have to wait until we got back. If we ever returned.

Our first stop, Erica told me, was an old abandoned building around Fargo, North Dakota. I'd never been to the states, and so I was sure this was going to be good for my geography lessons, hopefully.

"The population is very high, and I the crime rate is about high enough that a few missing people shouldn't provoke such a disturbance in the community." Erica told me as we sat in the cellar, waiting for the sun to die down.

"Are you going to take me hunting?" I asked, filled with excitement.

"I'm going to have to." She said angrily towards our situation. She'd been like that ever since she woke up. I wasn't sure whether it was the fact that she'd have to live without her coffin for a while or if it was about the eviction itself. I made a mental note not to ask. "But before we leave, you're going to drink a few packets with me to stave off the thirst and then we'll head out."

And as soon as the sun went down, we did exactly that. Except this time, I didn't have time to fully enjoy the taste. Erica made me force down three packets of blood while she did the same and as soon as we were ready, we left.

The trip across the border went without a hitch. Though, Erica did have to hold my hand the entire way. The first few miles, I'd over shot her turns and wound up farther away from her than I'd intended. And so, like the child my body played, she held my hand all the way to Fargo, North Dakota.

I'd never seen a city before. There were no pages in my work books that portrayed one, nor had I really watched anything on the TV about them. Mostly it was either The Addams Family, The Munster's', or Gilligan's Island. And if none of that was on, Erica and I would go outside and play, or fight over our boredom. Anything to keep my schooling away.

I was extremely pleased that my first time in a city could be seen through my new eyes, because my old ones could never due this beautiful sight justice. The clear diamond lights that sprouted from every direction, the hustle and bustle of the passerby and traffic, the smell of hot dog stands, the people… Everything was _made_ for someone like me to enjoy.

I took in the sights, the smells, and the sounds as if I were a stray tourist. Well, I was, but not in the since that I'd been vacationing here in Fargo.

We stood in the middle of the largest crowd of people I'd ever seen. Business men and women shuffled by with their briefcases. A small gang of underage youths shoved past us with a large stereo kicking out their favorite song. Junkies passed along jittering and mumbling to themselves. But my favorite type of person was the overly eccentric band imitators. Their hair shot out in all directions, and it made me laugh. Their leather clothes, long girlie hair, it was something I'd never expect to see in such a crowd.

My mother always told me to do my best to fit in, but there was a line, and if I tried to blend in with these people, I'd cross it instantly.

"Stop staring." Erica snapped as the group of funny looking people eyed us. "It's rude."

"But they look ridiculous!" I said laughing.

This caught the attention of a rather tall looking man.

"What's that little man?" He said. He looked he brandished a lions main that had been introduced to a thousand volts of electricity. The long leather pants he wore shined in the light from the street lamps, and glinted along his many, many chains. What they were for… I'll never know. _Probably to pull those leg huggers even farther into his ass,_ I though in my inner laughter.

"Sorry. My little brother didn't mean it. He's never been in a city before."

The man was still coming our way. _Is he really going to pick a fight with someone half his size?_

His pose behind him had all stopped in the middle of the road, sounding off countless honks from the angry driver's they'd been blocking.

They shouted at him to shut me up, and teach me a lesson. I debated whether or not to just rip off a finger and shove him into traffic… but that was just instinct… and I agreed.

He was much taller than I'd realized. He looked to be almost six and a half feet tall as he lumbered in front of me. "Do you want to repeat you're little smart ass comment, little boy."

"I said you looked ridiculous. Much like a rodeo clown." I said, glaring into his generic brown eyes. I grew an instant hatred for this man the minute he let the words of a twelve year old get to him. What kind of a man, in his twenties, would pick a fight with someone as small and weak looking as me?!

He reached out and snagged a hand full of hair and I grabbed his arm, making sure to squeeze just enough to cut off his blood flow.

Before I could reach at his fingers that intertwined in my curly hair, Erica slammed her fist right into his face. She pummeled him into the ground and there was a sick shattered gargle that came from him before she ripped me away from him.

I was being yanked away from the crowd so fast that I'd thought I'd been flying. And whether or not the crowd saw anything, I was sure they didn't see her lift me and run.

She quick stepped instantly, and we were soon at our destination. "What is wrong with you?" She yelled at me, letting go of my arm.

I shuffled the small back pack that rested on my shoulder. "I didn't know people could be so aggressive." I said, hoping my ignorance would keep me out of trouble.

"That's not what I'm talking about." She said, rubbing her eyes. "If you're going to be around people, act like it. If someone grabs your hair, respond like you think they would. Scream, fight softly. Never show you're true colors, you got that."

"Yes."

"Yes what?" She was pushing it.

"Yes, Ma'am." I said, feeding her ego. She wasn't in command of me most of the time, but when she was, she showed it.

"That's better." She said, ruffling my already messed up hair, and turning to enter our new home.

It hadn't occurred to me as we walked into the abandoned building that it looked familiar. Its debris covered floors were normal for an abandoned building. So were its mildew encrusted ceiling tiles. What wasn't so normal, were the many drawings on the walls. Their child-like simplistic views of the world around them were all but a welcomed sight to me as I realized where we were.

"This is a school!" I said, my fist curled around the buckle of my back pack. The small plastic tether snapped under the pressure that my fear induced into it.

Erica turned on the ball of her feet. "I know, it's brilliant." She said, smiling until she saw my face. "What's wrong?"

I quickly let go of the crushed plastic that poked at my skin. "Nothing." I said, taking control over my heavy breathing. "It's nothing."

She eyed me for a minute, then turned back around in the hallway. "We need to find the basement." She said. "Your mother said that it should be set up for us."

"She came here?" I asked.

"Back before she came to the coven she stayed here. So if nothing's changed, there should be a coffin down in the basement along with whatever else she left behind."

"Huh."

As Erica and I stood around the empty basement, we looked gloomily at how ill prepared it actually was.

On the floor in the middle of the large room, was a single coffin. Its wooden frame was poorly constructed and I doubted very seriously that my mother had ever slept in it. It wasn't her style. She preferred a large roomy box to sleep in, not this handmade mess. There were endless cracks in it, and splits so wide in its sides that I couldn't imagine Erica having a good day's rest in it.

Around the coffin, was practically nothing. Just a milk crate and a small collection of bottle caps that sat on top of it. Other than that, there was only dust and dead roaches littering the floor.

"We're going to have to do something about this." She said, looking over to me warily. I didn't like cleaning, and she didn't like a mess. We weren't a very good pair when it came to home cleanliness, and I knew some sort of annoying idea was floating around her head as she looked back to the mess.

"I'll make a deal with you." She said. "I'll go out and get us some new furniture, and you clean." Her smile couldn't have been more forced.

"Clean with what?" I said, looking at our rat's nest of a home.

"I'll have to get that too, I guess." She said, turning back up the stairs. "Just wait here and I'll be back in a minute."

"Sure." I said, giving the room one more look over before following up the stairs.

While Erica went out to get us some supplies, I sat around the front steps and waited for her. Cars didn't seem to pass around this part of town. It was just a barren road that to the abandoned school, so I guess they had no reason. _Another perk this place held._

And this place was a great find on my mother's part. Abandoned and forgotten, this old elementary school was totally separated from the civilization that thrived only a mile north of it. With its horrible condition, even homeless people didn't live here. I was sure it was mostly because of the signs outside that said: Warning Formaldehyde, out front.

With its boarded up windows, I could wander around these halls even during the day. Not that I had that sort of ambition. It was just a comforting thought just in case I couldn't sleep. Thoughts of how annoyed I'd become after a nightmare woke me up during the middle of the day at my mother's house flew around my mind. The boredom was murder. Especially when I was forced to stay in the cellar with my mother's muffled snoring coming from her coffin. Those days were nerve-wracking.

Lights appeared down the long road, and I instinctively backed away into the schools dark embrace. A sudden sense of fear seemed to grip my shoulders as I hid myself half-way behind the pushed in front door. My right hand gripped it nervously as I watched the car skid to a halt.

I prayed that Erica had hotwired a car and was back from shopping, but that wasn't the case at all as I watched four teens hop out. It looked to be two guys and their girlfriends.

"Wow! It's been years since I've seen this place!" One of the girls said. Her ebony hair was long and flowing in the wind, glinting the moonlight beautifully into my eyes.

A tall, tan skinned teen came up around her and wrapped his large arms around her sides and held her close. "Same here." He said, his hair was cut right above his shoulders, like little brown tentacles. Their slick surface was matted together by what I could only guess to be hair gel. As he looked up, I caught his blue eyes, and his confused expression. He'd seen me.

I backed away from the opening completely as he asked if anyone else saw that.

His group seemed to deny him the satisfaction of belief as they cracked jokes about his eye sight. I was too busy looking for a good escape plan, just in case they decided to investigate._ Please go away, please leave!_ I prayed.

"No, you guy's, I'm serious. There was some little kid standing in the doorway." He said, defending what he'd seen with complete confidence. There was no mistake that he'd seen me clearly. And there was no way they could convince him to leave me be.

I heard their conjoined footsteps slowly nearing the door, and I held my position, hoping fear of a dark abandoned school would scare them off for good. But as I felt someone put pressure against the door I jammed, my hopes had been shattered.

I pushed against it forcefully, hoping I'd knock whoever it was to the ground, and I ran down the left hallway. It was longer, but it was the only path to the basement.

The screams from the girls let me know that my little attack had frightened them, it was getting them to go away that seemed difficult. _Stubborn teenagers,_ I thought as I rounded the corner and turned back to make sure they weren't following me.

Whereas I wanted to get down to the basement as quickly as possible, my body wanted to wait and see. I wasn't sure at first why my instincts were acting this way, but I was sure that it wasn't something I'd be proud of later.

You see, I've never taken blood directly from a human after my new change. And my body knew this. My mouth watered at the thought of lasting their warmth. My teeth picked away at the inner skin on my bottom lip as I imagined how piercing their skin would feel. And my heart was racing. This was becoming less of an escape and more of a release.

The door pushed open, and I could see the teen that'd caught my sight before, stumble into the school's main entrance. His hand rubbed furiously against his forehead. "Hello?" He called to the darkness, hoping for a response.

"Ricky, there's no one here." The other male said. As he came into my view, I saw that he was dressed in a dark pair of bell bottoms, sporting a tie-dye shirt. I was a little disappointed in myself for not noticing him sooner. _What is wrong with these teens?_ I thought feverently as I watched them gather in the main lobby. _The last fashion statement I'd noticed was that people started wearing tighter pants!_

As I glared over to the two boys, I heard a shrill scream from the doorway. The dark haired beauty was pointing right at me when I'd finally tracked down her location, forcing me to duck away and run.

I couldn't keep myself from knocking down an empty bookshelf that lied tilted against the wall. The loud crash definitely let them know that someone was here.

As I sprinted towards the empty principal's office, a strong arm reached out from the classroom right before my destination, caught me by the neck and yanked me into the room.

In only a few short movements, Erica pulled me close, slammed me up against the wall of the classroom, stomped my feet into the floor, locked her left arm across my chest, and covered my muffled scream with her right hand.

"What the _hell_ are you doing?!" She whispered furiously.

I muffled that I wasn't doing anything, but I doubted she was willing to listen to my lie.

The sounds of the teenagers running through the halls quickly met both of our ears. Their heavy breathing and frantic calls for me were ringing through the halls.

"Nothing, huh?" She said sarcastically. As the voices came nearer and nearer, she slowly slid the door to her right shut and looked me right in the eyes. Her stare was cold and harsh. "It's your call." She said, giving me the choice of whether to let them search until they gave up, or kill them. "But remember, if they leave, there's a chance they'll come back here again. And next time it might not be just the four of them." She stated.

My teeth clenched at the thought of letting my prey go, but in spite of my instincts, I said, "Leave them alone." My surrender to my conscious hurt me a great deal, but this wasn't the time to learn the coveted taste of their beautiful lives.

With my decision made, Erica let me go from her capturing hold on me and we escaped out the window, silently. With an angry aura surrounding her, she snatched up the four bags she'd stashed beside the outer wall of the school and we made our way around to the far left wing as quick as we could. We just barely beat the sounds of the teens as we raced down the basement stairs and ran past the thick blue basement door. Erica shut the shrieking door as quietly as she could, but once it was shut, and both latches had been slammed into place, she turned on me furiously.

"What the hell were you thinking?!" She said, confident that our shelter would suppress any of her yelling.

"I…" I started.

"No! Save it!" She said, rubbing her eyes again. She always did that when she wasn't sure how to respond to something. "I leave you alone for thirty minutes, and you've already lured four people to their deaths." She said to herself.

"I'm sorry."

"I'm not angry with you." She said, obviously trying to convince herself. "I'm actually a little proud at how well you were drawing them in."

I smiled at her recognition.

"But you need to learn to keep your demographic old, or evil. Okay?" Her eyes were much kinder as she looked at me. Those beautiful, grey eyes always made me feel special. Even more than my mother's.

"Okay."


	10. Coven: Hunting Lessons

We weren't bothered again that entire week we spent in the basement. Of course, it was hard to tell whether or not they even came back. Erica had barricaded us in our new home for six days straight, just in case.

The first two nights we spent there were enjoyably busy. We swept up all the dirt and dead bugs that littered the floor, and mopped it over a few times for good measure. It still smelled like fresh pine. While Erica repaired her horrible make-shift coffin, I spent time cleaning the scuffs off the floor and wiping down the walls. With the new stereo she'd bought, we had lots of tunes to listen too over the course of those first nights.

I take it back when I said that _we_ were barricaded in. Erica was the only one who was allowed to leave because of the trouble I seemed to attract.

She'd went out the third night we spent there, hijacked a truck, and came back to the basement with a load of goodies. Bags of batteries for the stereo, since we didn't have any power, buckets of paint, paint brushes, and deck of cards along with a few random board games. When I'd asked her where she got the money for all this, she smiled. "That's none of your business."

_She stole it._

I couldn't have been more wrong about her after I finally got her to fess up. Her father was the CEO to a rather lucrative company that supplied aircraft parts to the military. I'd have never guessed. When I asked her what happened, though, she shut me out completely. I was almost scared at what she went through, or what I thought might have happened, so I let it go without question.

But the whole reason she hi-jacked the truck, was to get our new coffins. The excitement that was held deep inside of me exploded when I saw her dragging one of them down.

It held a deep ebony finish that glossed a bright, black. Its rails for carrying were shockingly reflective chrome that even the wealthiest man would be proud to die in. And it was all mine.

Her's was an exact copy.

I toyed with mine almost all night as we listened to the stereo. It's deep, red velvet inlay was beautiful. I'd always liked the color red, and so I was a little more than content with my new gift. The bottoms had been padded, but they weren't as comfortable as I'd hoped. Luckily, Erica had thought ahead and bought a large supply of pillows, and as I gawked at the inside of my first coffin, she sewed them together inside of a bright red sheet.

When all was said and done, and the sun finally came up, both of us were sound asleep in our new coffins, comfortable and content. Nothing would bother us, and nothing could with the basement door latched shut.

The music was turned off, the old coffin of hers' lay in splinters in the corner of the room, and all was silent. This was good living.

The last three days of our solitude were spent in the enjoyment of one another's company. We played games to stave off boredom, and once or twice they'd broadcast a comedy special over the radio. We sat across from each other, playing battle over my new coffin, and we reminisced about the past few years. The fights we'd gotten into were the source of her laughter, and mine was the many times I'd surprised her with a snowball to the face.

Then came the night were the hunger was more than we could take.

Blood does funny things to our kind. When some seek beauty, it makes them younger. When some seek sustenance, it quenches their thirst. And for others like me, who want nothing but the taste to fill our stomachs, it acts as a natural high, debilitating our innocent minds with an undefeatable euphoria. I knew better than to let that happen from now on.

Erica had been my focal point on tips and tricks to hunting humans ever since my stomach first started growling on the seventh night.

She told me that if I stayed shy looking, I could resemble a lost child and use that to my advantage. She told me to grab my left arm with my right and look down for practice, and I'd hit the mark perfectly. She squealed in excitement and hugged me. She was just as excited as I was.

A few more tips about hunting were things like, let humans feel like they're in control over you until you're ready to attack. Always attack under circumstances that leave any on lookers with no chance escaping, like blocking a door while you consume your first kill. These were simple tips that I'd have never thought of.

"If it's your first night out in a while, only take one life for your own. It keeps the intimacy at its climax without deluding the enjoyment with another. But that's for the more… mature vampires. You probably won't even be able to take their memories."

"I did with the hunter back at the coven." I said, defending myself. I wasn't twelve anymore, I was almost ninety. And I was sure that I'd done this all before, because as she laid down the law on hunting, a strange sense of déjà vu was creeping around me.

"You ate him. Your hunger probably forced them onto you. I bet it was just fragments, huh?" She said with an all knowing smile. She seemed to guess right when it came to my reactions towards things of a vampiric nature.

"Well, why would I even want them?" I asked, crossing my arms at my indiscrete frustration at how little I knew despite my age.

"Some people like them, some people don't. I love them. It lets me know just how fu- messed up the person is as I drink." She said, glowing with anticipation as we waited for the sun to full dissipate from the sky.

The small radio she'd bought came with an alarm, and we were desperately waiting for seven O' clock so we could head out.

"People seem to think about their regrets as they die." She said in a wondrous tone. "It's… fulfilling."

I didn't know what she was talking about, but she did know more about this than I did, supposedly. But I was sure of one thing. I'd have my first human meal tonight; aside from that one back in Alaska… _that one doesn't count._

Erica and I stood on top of a building, deep within the middle of Fargo, which she said was a strip club. I didn't know what that was, nor cared. All I wanted was for her to help me pick out my first prey, and to tell me it was all clear.

"Werewolves and Vampires give off scents that are made to repel one another, although, those same scents attract prey." She said, her elbows rested on the concrete rails of the rooftop. "So it shouldn't be hard for you to lure one into the alley here." She said, pointing around to the other side of the building. Where we leaned out, was the front of the building. Where we wanted to lure our prey, was right around back, by the dumpsters. It was dark, and you could barely see from one end of the alleyway to the other. It was perfect.

"So how do I pick?" I asked. Looking over the massive amount of people.

"That is totally up to your scent. If you're hungry enough, you'll attract anyone. But since you're only just now starting to feel the pain of going without, you should be able to attract someone with a guilty conscience." She said.

"How does that even work?" I asked her again. She lost me sometimes when she gave me little tips about my anatomy.

"I'm not sure, but it's the same as attracting a hungry person with the smell of food."

I just shrugged my shoulders and decided to nod my head in a false understanding.

"So what you're going to do is pass through the crowd, give them your pitiful look and turn down the alley. Easy right?" She said, turning me and taking my shoulders in her hands.

I nodded. "Anything else?" I asked before taking off.

"Umm… Don't forget to shake, and when you first enter the alleyway, dig through a dumpster a little for added measure." She said. Her brilliant plan had taken me by surprise. I've never seen this side of her before, and I think I was beginning to like it.

I smiled, showing my fangs. She smiled back. "Now get going. I don't want my prey getting too far before you're done." She said, pushing me towards the alleyway.

I did as I was told and jumped from the building, bending my knees as I landed to absorb the blow. It was like jumping from the stairs two steps up.

Looking around, I practiced my pitiful look and when I'd finally become content, I walked around the building into the human traffic.

I bit my bottom lip, held my left arm close, and shivered as I passed through the crowd. My pitiful expression got the attention of many people, and I feared it would be too much for me to handle if they all decided to follow me, but they didn't. _These people are so cold!_ I thought. Not one of them asked me if I wanted to borrow one of their many jackets, nor did anyone even stop me to ask if I was lost. It was a complete and total tragedy.

As I turned into the small path to the alley way, I softly rubbed my hands together, and breathed into them, feigning as best as I could. And right as I neared the turn to the alley way, a small voice sounded behind me.

"Hey, kid." I heard her say. Instead of turning, I hunched over around the corner and dug into a small trashcan, pulling out a half-eaten sandwich. It smelt horrible, and I had to drop it back into the trash.

The woman's footsteps were following close behind me, and that's when I poised myself for attack. My back lay flat against the harsh brick wall of the strip club, and I balanced myself on my toes. And by the time the woman got to me, I'd managed to even work up some tears. It wasn't hard when I remembered the cruel reality that none of those people on the other side of the street would help me. They'd just stare pitifully at me and let me die in the unforgiving cold.

It was also ironic that I was about to kill the only person descent enough to come to my rescue.

"Kid?" She asked, coming around the corner. To her, I was a pathetic child resting from a night of just trying to survive. But as she rushed in front of me, she couldn't have been more mistaken.

I looked up at her before I decided to strike. Her skin was almost as pale as mine, except her makeup made it that way. Her red lip stick was thick around her frowned lips. She wore a giant, fur coat and dressed like a supermodel. She had beautiful emerald eyes that peered down into mine like traffic lights.

"Are you al-"

I cut her off completely as I jumped into her, instantly pinning her to the wall opposite of the alleyway. The force of which I used to slam her in place was enough to knock the wind out of her, which was perfect because now she couldn't scream.

I placed my hand over her open mouth, and ran my teeth along her open neck. This was it, the tasty fluids that fueled my existence were only a pin prick away, and then I'd be in heaven again.

My fangs brushed against her skin, my saliva dripped down on her making her jump. I savored that moment. A moment between me and my prey was all I could allow her to have before she died. And the minute that moment was up, I bit her.

Just the feeling alone of my fangs pushing through her skin and into her artery was enough to press a small amount of ecstasy through my system. And when the blood squirted down my throat and filled my mouth, I was alive.

Unlike my packs of frozen blood, the blood came to me. I barely had to suck against her skin to fill my mouth.

Over and over, my tongue became drowned in the right, salty taste of her blood. Each drought was another mouthful of pleasure that coursed through my veins. Every second was a second that brought us both closer and closer to the ground. My body loved her.

Images of her life threatened to break me away from my enjoyment, but I just shoved them away. This was my moment, my moment with her. And nothing was going to distract me!

I let go of her mouth and pressed her against me harshly. She was going limp. I forced her arms to her sides as I squeezed the blood from her body, praying the enjoyment would never stop, and to my amazement, it kept coming. Her body was still warm!

The taste was flooding my mind with warmth and pleasure to a point where I thought I'd explode from the affects it was having on me. My body didn't see her as prey; so much as it did a lover. Someone to bring me so much pleasure could only be a lover. She was not some cattle for the slaughter, nor was she a villain who needed to be stopped; she was my lover, my everything.

My brain muddled the ideas of what I was feeling as the blood finally ran dry. There was nothing left to take from her. And I was starting to actually cry.

Tears streamed down my face at the end of our wondrous journey together, my victim and I. _This can't end! I won't let it! _I swore, without any idea how to back it up.

Erica had found my side instantly as I shook from my tears. "She's all gone." I said through my sobs. "I want more." I cried.

Erica laughed. "You'll get more, later."

As she touched my shoulders I felt the warmth of her hands pull me away from my sadness. What I'd experienced was temporary insanity, I was sure of it.

"What you felt just now, was the aftermath of her death." She said solemnly in my ears. "It's the worst feeling in the world to experience. Even if it is just a short emotional pull."

"I don't ever want to feel that way again." I said, the woman's blood still clung to my teeth and tongue. The cold, bitter taste of loneliness held close to my heart. But as I swallowed the last little bit of her blood… "But I do want more."

"You'll get more tomorrow, besides it's my turn." She said, demanding my patience. "But next time, as soon as they become more than just your prey, let them go. Then you won't have to worry about the aftermath." She said, helping me to my feet. I felt drunk with my satisfied thirst. Its warmth brightened my skin and I could feel myself blushing by its pressure.

This was my first kill.

"Now hurry up and shake it off, I've got a surprise for you."

Before we left the corpse of young Mrs. Whoever, Erica showed me how to prep a body for discovery. As I tried to lose the love that had built in me from my victim, Erica pulled a small pocket knife out of her jeans and slit the woman's throat.

Then, as I watched, she placed her face down on top of a storm drain. "You see, when her body is discovered, no one will wonder where all of her blood went. Pretty cool huh?" She said looking over too me.

I nodded, but I couldn't take my eyes off of the corpse. The love for her still clung to my chest, but it was slowly starting to dissipate.

As we ran along the rooftops, jumping from point to point whenever an alley gapped our ground. Erica was really excited about her prey, and I was just as eager to find out why.

"So what's going to happen when they find teeth marks on that woman?" I asked through my short breaths.

"They'll heal up. Our venom has healing properties. That's why we heal faster than werewolves." She said through her own.

"Huh. I haven't had a chance to notice."

Erica came to a quick stop right above a music store, and she turned and squinted into the crowd that lay before us. I'd almost run past her.

"Right there!" She said pointing in the middle of the crowd.

I looked as hard as I could, but I didn't recognize anyone down there. Then again, I wasn't very good with people's faces. "I don't see anything." I admitted.

"Right there." She said, aiming my sight with her finger. "Leather pants, leather jacket, big hair."

I couldn't believe it when I'd seen him. It was that jerk from when we'd first gotten to Fargo. "What a small world." I said in awe. "I wonder where he's going."

"He's mine." She said, staring me down from two feet away.

"I would have guessed that when you said he was _your_ prey." I snapped at her sudden ferocity. She'd wanted this guy bad, ever since he'd yanked at my hair, and I wasn't going to stop her. If anything, I was about to enjoy a pretty nice show.

"I'm sorry, Adam. But you know that I've been starving all night too." She said with her eyes pleading forgiveness. I smiled at her sudden changes in personality. It was just another thing that seemed to attract me to her.

Without a word she backed off the roof and ran through the alleyway. "Now I get to watch the pro work." I said to myself, crossing my elbows as I leant against the music shop roof.

I watched her run through the crowd, and I was instantly confused by her tactics. She was making a straight line towards him, and as I smiled at her obviously happy expression, she struck him.

She shouldered him, actually. As if she'd run into him on purpose. Then, she lingered, acting like she was apologizing. And within seconds the man had recognized her and they both ran. He chased her all the way around the small park that separated us and I watched in awe as she lured him right in the middle of the park.

They were hidden by the trees that lined the uncut grass they circled in, and with one look around her, she struck. She brought him down fast and hard, and I lost site of the both of them. She was a great huntress. And even though she was the first I'd ever seen, she was brilliant. Though, she did have sixty years to practice her techniques.

It took her only a few moments to drain enough of him to satisfy her, and then she was up. I could see her draw out her knife and kneel back down, but what she did after that would have to wait until she rejoined me.

She stood suddenly, wiping her mouth with her sleeve and gave me a thumbs up from where she stood.

I loved hunting with her.


	11. Coven: Preventing the Premonitions

The lid to my coffin lay closed over me. The soft velvet gleamed in the light of my heart beat. And my body was completely at rest. My muscles, my bones, even my mind was completely soothed. The weight I'd felt as hunger barked from my stomach, was gone. All of my anxiety of wanting to know what it was like to drink from a human was satisfied. I felt like I'd never wake from the coma setting in. Much like the aftermath of a Thanksgiving Day feast, I was overtaken by peace.

"Erica?" I asked, my eyes now closed, my heart slowing for my long rest.

"Yeah?" She asked, feeling the exact same euphoria I was.

"Do you think my mom will come back soon?" It was a stray thought. My mind was too at peace to be truly wondering that. I was just trying to keep the peace flooding my system until I couldn't any longer.

"She'll be back before you know it." She said, reassuring my empty question. "Now go to bed." Her voice was so soft that I could barely hear it. The soft thumping of our two hearts filled the locked basement. It was a symphony of satisfied young vampires.

"Thanks."

"Goodnight." She said, rolling over quite unceremoniously.

"Night."

My comfort flooded from my system as I awoke from my short nap. Every single one of my taste buds was on fire, and my head felt like it was going to explode. The pain tore through my veins like liquid razor blades, and I screamed.

I flung myself out of coffin and collapsed to the floor with my legs hanging over the edge of my once peaceful bed. My hands instantly found my chest, trying to rip into myself to squeeze the pain from my beating heart. Everything was distorted and shifted as I looked around for some sort of requiem from the pain. But there was only the flashing red lights coming from my pained heart.

Tearing my hands away from my chest to keep from killing myself, I rolled over. My body felt like dead weight. Every muscle in my body held its own new pain. My legs felt like knives were being driven into them long ways. My arms felt as though tacks were trying to fight their way out of my skin. My torso was on fire, and my stomach was empty.

My fears were being brought to life as I realized that this was the epitome of the thirst. My eyes felt like they were being pushed out of my skull as I looked for a viable source of food, but there was none.

And then I had the thought I'd been fearing ever since we'd come to this place. _Erica…_

My screams were being muffled by my fangs ripping into both my lips. The blood that seeped into my mouth was tasteless and used. It wasn't anything compared to what I'd had earlier, and so I crawled towards her closed coffin.

Every inch felt like it took an eternity as I fought through the pain. The needles that pierced my veins, the knives in my legs, the tacks in my arms… nothing would keep me from her. _Nothing!_

I clambered up to her coffin and opened the extraordinarily heavy coffin. The lid felt as though it weighed six hundred pounds, but I managed to slip under it and open it completely. And as I lay there before her peaceful figure, I watched through her skin as the blood of her victim coursed through her veins. It was so beautiful.

Without another second, I slid my arm under the back of her neck, poised myself close to her, and brought her up to my mouth.

My fangs slid silently into her perfect skin and instantly the stolen blood rushed into my mouth. Like a volcano, it spurted and shoved the liquid down my throat like it was pressurized. The longing hunger in my stomach was slowly being washed away by what she was giving me. The pains in my limbs and muscles faded as well. Everything was becoming normal again. And then I noticed the silence.

There was my heartbeat… but nothing else.

I gasped as I looked at her peaceful face. Those grey eyes were hidden behind her pale eyelids, but I'd wished they were open and focused. Just so they could tell me she was alive. Even though, as I held her under my left arm, I could tell she wasn't.

"Oh my god." I cried silently. I shook her, and I rubbed her cheek. There was no response. Everything that she'd been before was gone. She wasn't moving. She wasn't breathing. She wasn't smiling… "She's dead…"

The stolen blood that ran through me felt like a mark of death. I felt as Kane must have felt after killing his brother. The only person who use to play with me, fight with me, and listen to me when I was lonely, was now gone. And I was to blame.

The light of the room was a pulsing red. Its flickering reminders of what I'd done surrounded me and a sea of guilty illumination and I couldn't escape it. Even as I rose to my feet, its quickening flashes became all too apparent of the tragedy that I'd befallen.

I looked at my arms. The red glow of life that ran through me flashed its knowing luster under my flesh and proved my guilt. _This wasn't supposed to happen!_ I thought, dropping back to my knees.

I raised my hands to my head and tried to press the ever growing noise of my heartbeat out of my head. Its unforgiving beating blistered against my ear drums. All of the anguish my mind could muster couldn't shut out the noise.

"I don't want it."

My fingernails dug into my temples. The pain only made the beating louder, irritating my already aggravated ear drums to no end.

"I don't want it!"

The steady pounding quickened. Its beating became converged and overlapped itself, tearing the world from under me. My stomach felt like it was being squeezed and twisted, and nausea built up in my throat.

"I DON'T WANT IT!!!"

One second I was staring at her corpse, and the second, I was awake. Her sovern, grey eyes looked down upon me. The little dancing diamonds that glinted in her irises were still and dead. Cracking with worry, and distorting behind tearing eyes.

I lay stock still under her gaze. Fearing that if I moved, I'd hurt her. I couldn't let that happen. She'd been my best friend ever since I could remember, and to have something so terrible burning inside of me… was like a betrayal that I could never be forgiven of. This pain… this hunger, was nearing its peak in my mind, and the only thing more disturbing, was its manipulation of my body.

It took only a soft wisp of her scent to remind me just how hungry I was. But I couldn't move to satisfy it. I couldn't take that chance. And if I had too, I'd remain in my box, unmoving to stave off the burning spasms in my stomach. The constant burning of hungry enzymes eating themselves was a pain I was willing to tolerate. But would my body be so lenient?

Erica's warm fingers were pressed deeply into my shoulders. Her fingernails threatened to burst right through my skin, but I wouldn't show it. Her force was keeping me down; keeping me docile.

Her soft, half-moon cheeks and beautifully sad, grey eyes, was all I had to keep my mind off the pain. It was all I had to keep away the monster. It was all she had that could save her from me.

My stomach growled loudly as we stared at each other.

"I can't hold it forever." I whispered through my pursed lips.

"What?" She was caught off guard by what I'd said completely. I'd put off telling her for a reason, but now it looked as if that wasn't such a wise choice. Because as my stomach clenched, and my veins throbbed, she didn't run.

My lungs suddenly felt as though I wasn't getting enough air. Making my insides feel dry and scratchy. This new feeling, I'd only felt once before. And that was when I'd been forced into my change by the fear of killing the people I loved. Something that brought both fear and dread to my face, only mystifying what I'd held from her further. She had to leave, now.

My hands instinctively found hers and pried her worried fingers off of her. Pain ripped through my arms and shoulders as her grip released the blood into my upper extremities. Its new life, brought its trump card against my resistance, and forced the spark necessary for a rapid change.

In one movement, without words or reasoning, I pulled myself up using Erica's shoulder, and threw her out into the basement stairs. All of the shock and worry that had once shown on her face was instantly replaced by the pain of her landing, and the fact that I'd been the one to cause it.

"I'm sorry it has to be this way." I said solemnly.

And with one last glance into her hurt filled eyes, I slammed the giant blue door shut, brought down both latches, and ripped them right from the door.

I've never seen him so emotionally dethatched before. That last look he'd given me before he shut himself in was so full of pain and inner malice, that I could barely feel the pain in my legs. The suffering that he'd been hiding all this time, seemed to breach through the surface, and I got my first look at Deitre.

The screams that followed the sounds of shearing metal, were indescribably horrifying. At first it was shrill and high. The epitome of audible pain. A force of which I could feel reverberating through the concrete steps I found myself frozen on. And then it started to change. It became guttural and deep; splitting into two separate sounds. Screams, and then roars.

BANG!!!

The force against the door knocked me right from my fear and practically sprung me to my feet. Dread sped through my blood unfiltered and unhindering. It comingled with a sudden burst of adrenaline, and I slowly began to back up on the stairs.

BANG!!!

Another roar followed with the explosive force on the steel door. It's blue paint chipped and fell in glittering sprinkles to the floor. Every fiber of my being wanted to turn and run, but I couldn't. I couldn't leave him there, alone. He'd been my only friend ever since I'd come into the coven. He'd been the only person who cared about me. And he was all I really had.

BANG!!! BANG!!! BANG!!!

Small protrusions of bent metal formed on my side of the door, and I began to wonder how much more the door could take before it finally gave. Sweat covered my skin instantly as the power that lurked inside him began to show itself.

I turned and ran, not wanting to be close to the door when it finally gave. But by the time I reached the top of the stairs, a strange symphony of silence had fallen around our mid-day sanctuary.

I turned in the entry way to the basement and listened. The soft sound of claws scratching against concrete lay low at the bottom of the hard steps, leaving me with nothing but wonder and fear as I stood in the doorway.

Then, as suddenly as it had started, it stopped. And the metal door was free of its bonds.

The door swung open slowly, and my heart raced. I knew only two things could come from that basement. Either Adam had finally gained control. Or Deitre had broken him into pieces and was now on his way to feed.

A thick, white hand gripped the edge of the door. It took me a few seconds of focusing to see that it was covered in hair. Its visceral claws scraped against the painted metal, shearing it and slicing divots right into its frame. Fear engulfed me completely.

The door swung open silently. And I was met with a pair of amber, uncaring eyes. This wasn't Adam. His mouth hung open, agape with the dissention of frustration with his prison. His breaths were gapped and sharp like knives as he stared up at me. For a second, I hadn't expected him to even move as he watched me. And yet, I knew time was running out.

His white fur seemed to stand up around his neck and spiked on the top of his head as he felt my anxiety. Those thick, powerful jaws of his snapped shut. And he released the door. I could see his claws retracting as he prepared for his ascension. All that was left was for me to move.

My heart beated against my chest furiously as I tried to summon up the courage to run. And with every thought I had about running, he'd move. His eyebrows would twitch, or his hand would shake. Every thought I had was accompanied with some sort of mental notice from him, and it was extremely unmoving.

I took in one last breath, deep and clear as I prepared to run. He did the same, reading my body language perfectly. _Oh, god._

I slammed the door shut and ran left, avoiding the sunlight as best as I could. My legs felt as though they'd been beaten with a hammer as I ran. And the burning in my lungs debilitated any chance of quick stepping through the halls. I didn't want to risk breaking through a wall and falling into the sunlight, but then again, I didn't want to die either.

A loud crash sounded behind me as the dilapidated wooden door to the stairs splintered and in the debris, slid the beast. His claws caught the tiles and instantly stabilized him, and then he was back to hunting me.

I turned down the second hallway as sharply as I could without putting too much pressure on my legs as I ran. I didn't want to fall, but I couldn't just ignore the pain from when Adam had thrown me. It was too thin a line for me to blur and confuse.

The stagnant air in the school rushed past me as I turned down another hallway. Adam slid right behind me. I could even feel the rush of wind behind my legs as he swiped for me.

_Almost there._

I ran as fast as I could down the straight shot to the boiler room. It was the only other room in the school with a giant metal frame. _I just pray it could hold him till sundown!_ Panic rushed through me as I felt the rip of his claws tearing at my shirt.

The door to the boiler room stairs was open, and only yards away. My muscles tensed painfully as I put in one last burst of speed. My feet crushed the dirty tiles as I sprinted to my destination. But it wasn't enough. So I dove.

I prayed for the door at the bottom of the stairs to be open, because as I flew through the gap, I couldn't remember if I'd left it opens or not. Miraculously, it was open. And I flew right through the entrance and slammed against the ground.

All of my realization for the pain was absent as I quickly got to my feet and lunged for the door. But as my hands met the door, his did the same. And as I wrenched the metal door forward, his face swung around and met mine. The cold, wet tip of his nose met mine, and somewhere behind the gruesome features on his face, was a smile.

He snapped at my face and I backed away from the door in recoil. A cackle escaped from his throat, and I learned quickly that it had been a ploy to get me from the door. Those uncaring eyes, they were unlike anything I'd ever seen before.

The beast stood tall after huddling in through the doorway. He pushed the door into the concrete wall and turned the crank, pushing the metal bars right into the concrete. There was no more sanctuary. Even if I could somehow get around him, there was nothing to keep me from being grabbed up and…

I shuddered.

The evil smile that had once been plastered at his dominance between the two of us faded quickly as his stomach growled. A noise that made my teeth clench with fear. It stopped my breathing and cut my movement away from him down to a small spasm in my left leg. _God, please…_

His thick hand rubbed against his stomach as he stared at me. I wasn't quite sure whether it was to instill fear or if it was an unconscious movement. All I knew was that there was nothing stopping him from satisfying that craving.

And with one final look towards his food, it lunged for me.

I really couldn't tell what had happened at first. On second I was standing my ground, petrified with fear, and then I was on the ground, pinned to the cold concrete. I shut my eyes tight as I felt his mouth start to close around my neck, and I tried to keep from screaming. This was it.

"DEITRE!" A voice yelled from behind him. His sharp yellow teeth lingered at the precipice of my death as I felt his entire body shift. He was debating whether or not to look. "That's not how I raised you!"


	12. Coven: Holding Together

I curled my claws as I stood to face them. Their presence was all but flattering to my hunger. Behind me, my prey awaited her fate. The delicious blood and meat that lay enclosed around her skin watered my mouth with anticipation. But if there was to be a problem with my new company, I wouldn't think twice about wasting her blood to keep her still.

"You're doing it again!" My mother said. Her amber eyes glinted furiously over to me. Her long, brown, curly hair bounced at her agitated finger pointing. This was my biological mother, Gretchen De Maul. She'd been just as beautiful as I'd dreamed. "You can't just feed one side, or you'll…"

She gestured down at Erica who still lay quivering behind me. I turned to look at what I'd done, and carelessly looked back at her. The woman who gave me birth…

"But, I'm hungry…" I said pitifully. The soft growl of my voice seemed to echo in my stomach as I mentioned it. Its rumbling seemed to agitate my nerves and my muscles were beyond reasoning as I turned away from her.

I poised my hand high to strike down upon Erica, when a sudden force gripped my wrist.

I hadn't even felt her move! And yet, before me she stood. Her brilliant amber eyes glared deeply into my own, and I wrenched my hand free. My labored breathing seemed to tone her glares down a bit, but it didn't stop her from grabbing around my muzzle.

"Deitre. We brought you food." She said, pointing towards Angela. I hadn't even noticed the unconscious man in her grip. His body was limp and white, his eyes were shut. He was dead. The blood had been drained completely from him, and as I looked back at my mother, confusion lacing my glance, I opened my mouth to whine.

"You've had enough blood." She said coldly, clamping my mouth shut again. Her hands were like vice grips against the soft tissue of my muzzle. And it wasn't too hard to find that her dominant gestures sank smoothly into me.

I gently pushed her hand off my muzzle and lumbered over to my new meat. Shame filled me that I hadn't hunted him, but hunger overwhelmed that small pain. Every bit of me stung and ached from the over exacerbation of all my muscles chasing Erica. I'd never used them unwillingly before. Even as I snatched the body ungratefully from my surrogate mother, my forearm and biceps ached.

I dragged the carcass over into the darkest corner of the room, and ignored the girls while I feasted. The man, whoever he was, tasted divine. Even without the soft, fresh taste of blood still inhabiting his veins. With each bite of flesh and meat, an almost primal urge was being filled. It's complexity that had intergraded into my system seemed to override every thought in my fogged mind. And soon, I found myself in a storm of ecstasy and fulfillment.

The three girls watched me, in a very ill-mannered kind of way. Erica's groaning at the mess I was making made me turn the corpse to the corner so that she couldn't see. My mother's worried glances that burned in the back of my skull seemed to make me eat faster. And my real mother's anger towards the disregard of my nature, just hurt.

All in all though, it was a great meal. Something that could only feed the soul. It was the missing piece to my anatomy, rather my instincts that wasn't being satisfied. The unnatural feeling of my instincts warring with each other seemed to fade away. And when the meat was all gone, and only specks and flies covered the corpse, was I able to think clearly once again. And the only thought that ran through my mind, slipped right from my mouth as I lay back against the cold concrete floor to slide peacefully back to sleep. "I'm glad she's safe."

I remember slipping in and out of the black unconsciousness of sleep as my biological mother carried me back to the basement. I remember looking over too my surrogate mother, and laughing quietly at how she was dressed. Her body was completely wrapped in layers upon layers of coats, and scarves. Her hands were covered in thick gloves. She was even wearing sunglasses. _That's probably how they got here so quickly in the sunlight._ I thought, closing my eyes again.

I remember opening them as we went down the stairs, descending further and further into the black sanctuary of the basement. My eyes were locked on Erica's as soon as I'd registered who I was looking at. And a soft seam ruptured in my heart as I watched her hold out her hand, and grab mine. It was once lying limp at my mother's side as she curled her arms under me to carry me, and now, it was in the warmth of my best friend. I remembered wishing we were more.

Lastly, I remember being bundled in the extra clothing that my mother had worn. The soft cushion of thick jacket locked her scent in with it, and as I drifted softly into the epitome of serenity. And as my eyes closed, I felt a soft aura of heat near my ear. "I missed you so much, Deitre." With a small kiss on my forehead, I was lost within my dreams.

She called me Deitre. My mother, as she woke me gently from my sleep. I'd always grouped that name with words like fear, and terror. It had once brought me terrible dreams of killing my friend. It had once instilled a fear in me that I couldn't bear. And I was glad to now wear that very name with pride. It was what my mother named me, and like all werewolves, I loved my mother more than anyone.

"Wake up, sleepy head." She said, nudging my curled body as I took in my first conscious breath of the night. The crisp air was all but clean. Formaldehyde crept in through the broken down door way, and seeped across the floor into my senses. I coughed as I sat up, pulling my mother's jacket around my naked body.

I groggily looked around the room at the three women that had accompanied my consciousness. Everyone was awake, and it wasn't hard to realize that Erica hadn't slept at all. Her eyes seemed to drag the rest of her down. Her face was sullen and tired, and I had to keep myself from being bogged down with guilt. I knew she wouldn't enjoy my anguish after what we'd been through. Besides, I didn't deserve it for the trouble I'd put her through.

"Good morning." Angela said. I found myself not able to truly call her my mother anymore. Whereas, she was the first one I remember ever meeting, she wasn't my real mother. A thought that both moved, and depressed me. What would she do now? Without me as her real son, would she leave? I prayed for peace of mind, but I was wrought with too many fear filled questions.

"Morning." I replied, looking deeply into her eyes for any sign of distress. Usually it was pretty easy for me to read her, but at the moment, I found it to be quite the difficult task. To me, she was a mystery that either led to a tragic end, or to a new beginning. I anxiously prayed for the later. I couldn't bear the thought of losing either one of my mothers. Which brought me to my first question.

"So what's going to happen now?" I asked, still looking her in the eyes. Angela just smiled. Her glowing features seemed radiant and glorious as she stared back at me.

"We're all going home."

I was tired and worn out by the time we'd finally gotten back home. My mother held my hand the entire way. But it didn't stop me from looking back to make sure that Angela was still following us. I'd feared so much in the past few weeks, and if it were all for nothing… If I were to lose my mother, even after the fear and pain that had been plaguing my mind, I wasn't sure if it would have been worth it.

In spite of my fears, she was there to smile back at me as we sped along. Her soft glances between my mother and I bothered me slightly, though. How would the two of them compromise? What if my mother wanted to take me back to wherever she'd been all these years? What if they found that they hated each other? What if we were only seconds away from total dissention? What if everything wasn't all right? I couldn't smile back at her. And so I turned my head with each scary thought, and followed my mother through the beautiful white night.

By the time we'd arrived back at the coven, I'd become overwhelmed with fear. Enough so that I couldn't even look back at the two as I walked past my mother and towards Angela's wrecked house. Every step forward was like another step towards a bad memory. I remembered the rage that had been running rampant in my veins. I remembered the destructive force of my paranoia and fear. It wasn't something I cared too much for, that memory.

"We're not in that house anymore, Deitre." Angela called from behind me. She snatched up my hand gently into her own and guided my worn body towards Erica's. This forced me to look up to her in confusion.

"We're staying with Erica?" I asked. My heart felt like it'd break right through my chest at just the prospect. A strange feeling, seeing as how I hadn't felt it when we were living together.

"We're going to have to until we can get ours fixed." She said, still smiling. Those amber eyes that we both shared glinted just the way a mothers would. I still couldn't get over the strange feeling that my body had betrayed her for my real mother. The love I used to feel for her seemed smaller than how it had been before any of this craziness entered our lives. She used to be my everything. My sun and moon. The reason for my existence. But now, she felt like… Angela. Just, Angela.

I still wrapped my thin fingers around her hand tightly like I always did, and I still felt that everything I'd done was for her. It was just different. Strange. It made me feel alienated from her. But it also felt right. A fact that hurt more than anything I'd ever felt before.

"What's wrong?" She asked, stopping me in the snow covered street.

I forced myself to look away from her wondering gaze. I focused on the bright, star-like street lamps. Their intricate designs made them each unique and beautiful. I could only guess it to be old English.

"Deitre, what's wrong?" She asked gently. She dropped down to my eyesight and turned my head towards her. "Is this because of my leaving?"

My eyes shot out, "You're leaving?"

"No." She said defensively. "No, why would you ever think I was… wait." She eyed me, right through my guilty stares. "You thought that I was going to leave you?"

I nodded, rubbing my hands against my tired eyes. It staved off the tears that threatened to run away from me, but it didn't keep my eyes from reddening.

"I'm not going to leave you, Deitre." It sounded weird to have her call me that. "Why would you ever think I was going to leave you."

I didn't want to say. If I gave up the truth in front of my mother, I'd not only feel like I'd betrayed her, but there would also be the guilt of doubting my surrogate mother's love for me. In a sense, it all seemed to become silly to me. And yet, I couldn't help but look towards my mother, standing next to Erica. She hadn't stopped smiling since I'd come out of my dementia. She was ecstatic to have her son back. Hell, the feeling was mutual.

Angela took notice of my look towards my mother, and instantly saw through my smile back to her.

"Deitre, I'll always be here for you. There's nothing on earth that could force me out of your life." She said, wiping away a small tear from my cheek with her thumb. Then she moved a little closer and whispered, "Not even your mom."

"Thanks."

Erica announced her going to bed almost as soon as we were all comfortable. I knew how she felt about having people in her house. Other than myself, she'd never allow a single person into her home. Not even Dominic once she was settled in. She liked everything set in a certain order, and that order was her first, no one follows. She was funny like that.

After she departed for her much deserved rest, my mother's sat down on the couch and I curled up between them and rested my head on my mother's lap. I'd never truly known the warmth of my real mothers touch. But I knew now.

Her pants radiated heat, and as she ran her fingers through my hair as I tried to fall asleep, that warmth seemed to seep right into my skin, warming everything. Though my vampiric skin, as well as the three girls' was freezing cold, we still felt normal to each other. A gift, I supposed, from God.

"How did you get him to age?" My mother asked, still stroking her fingers through my hair. Her very touch was enough to soothe away any uncomfortable ache in my body. "When he was with me, after he turned four, that was it." She said, sadly.

"I don't know." Angela said honestly. "We just kind of fell into a mother-son relationship, and… I really didn't know anything about him so I just thought he was a normal boy. Beside the werewolf thing."

My mother laughed. "Yeah, you can blame his father for that."

"So what happened." Angela asked. I could feel her stare. It made me shift a little at the uncomfortable question. I pulled my arms in around me for unneeded warmth, and sidled my legs in closer to my mothers. "To him, I mean."

My mother's hand stopped, then rested on my arm. I couldn't get enough of that warmth of hers.

"It was about thirty years ago, while we lived in Russia. Deitre loved the snow, but the long summer days were torture on him. You see, he doesn't have the same tolerance towards the sun as I do. So he'd be locked away in the dark all day until it was safe. Even the sun's reflective rays on the furniture seemed to scald him. For the first ten years of his life, I'd thought that he'd just adopted all of our weaknesses and none of our strengths. He couldn't change, didn't have fangs, and could barely talk. Add all that up with the fact that he wasn't growing anymore, and you have a parent's worst nightmare."

The words were like knives against my heart.

"Oh, God."

"It was like that at first. Then, he started to change. He adapted to our lifestyles, and soon he could even stand out in the sun. I wouldn't doubt it if he could now." She said, rubbing my arms as I feigned sleep. "He learned to change between his human and wolf side, and became extremely independent. A lot quicker than I'd hoped. We were slowly losing control of him."

They say that when someone with amnesia hears about their past, that there's a good chance they'd reclaim their memories. I didn't. And I was grateful for it.

"He'd hunt entirely during the day, and began shunning the night. He said he could control his body better if he hunted during the day. But he never told us how. He soon began getting into territorial fights with the other packs, driving Demitri into a situation that almost cost him his life, and afterwards wound up killing the pack's alpha. He was an unstoppable force."

"That's terrible."

You ever get the feeling you were being ratted out… I was. With every word I became more and more aware of how devious I'd been. How horrible I was. But if I was such a terrible person, then why did she come back to me? Why couldn't she stop smiling?

"That was around the same time Marcus started to grow distant from us, and with that final straw, Demitri snapped. He told Deitre that if he didn't pick a side and straighten up, we were going to leave him in Russia, and never come back."

"How'd he take it?"

"He didn't. I don't know what happened inside of Deitre's head, but something broke in him that day, and we were soon back to having a four year old running around the house making noise and teasing his seemingly older brother. It was as if he'd adapted to Demitri's expectations. And even though I'd been scared of what was brewing inside of him for those first few months, I was happy to have my smiling little Deitre back. He'd pick fights with Marcus and they'd throw snowballs at each other, and he was back to hunting animals rather than people and werewolves."

"He hunted his own kind?"

"I didn't find out until he'd killed that Alpha, but yes. His dominant form may have been small at the time, unlike now, but he was a definite force to be reckoned with. I also found out that he'd only killed them because he caught them hunting on Demitri's territory. In his mind, he was protecting his father's property, as well as my own. But after Demitri's fit, he became a mental recluse. Sure he had fun and smiled, but he wasn't whole anymore. Before their fight, he'd been brilliant. He read through my entire collection before Marcus could even change. He'd always said he wanted to leave no stone unturned around him."

I sort of wished I had that brilliance right now.

"So what happened to Demitri?" Angela asked.

"He died of old age years ago. Long after both the boys ventured left us. Marcus had taken Deitre with him to form his new pack in Canada, and decided it best not to tell either of us. They didn't even leave a note. After that, whatever happened to Deitre to make him the way he is today is a mystery. I'm just glad to have my boy back."

A soft tear graced my cheek as I stole a glance of her face. She was looking right at me, still smiling. "I just thought you should know." She said, her gleaming amber eyes were like flames hidden behind a looking glass.

Angela silently left us alone as we stared into each other's eyes. "Why do you love me if I was such a monster towards you all?" I asked. A sort of self-hatred was burning within me as I glared up at her. I was a bastard to her. The way I took it, was that I took away her chances to teach me about the world and shunned her advice and love. Why would she care for me after that?!

"Deitre, there is nothing you can do to keep me from loving you."


	13. Prelude to the Future

I was standing in the well lit, cobblestone streets as I waited for the sun; for death. The cold shoulder of loneliness that had been dragging me around these past few days had been an unhindering torrent of guilt and anguish for what I'd let happen. I could still smell the corpses that littered the streets. Their burnt flesh mixing with the snow, their crippled, tortured postures; I'd caused it to happen. But soon that wouldn't matter. All that was left in the world was me… and him.

The wolf that caused all the trouble in the first place. The wolf that now lay limp in my grasp after I'd beaten him into submission. The wolf that I'd abused into changing back into human form. The bane of my existence.

His bright, blond hair had turned red from the blood that seeped from his skull. It matted against his face like Velcro, and he couldn't have looked more beaten. Even after his change back, the bones in both of his arms protruded from the skin. The fractures in his fingers were much less apparent. I did horrible things to this man, and all of them weren't even fully his fault. He'd let everyone be killed just as I did. We were both to blame.

A spot of light peaked over the tree line before us. Its deadly rays shown right past us and into the street behind us. "Well, this is it." I said snatching the man by the back of his neck. "Let's pay our dues."

I brought him up on my shoulders as I marched us into the waiting inferno.

"Time." I sang. "Standing all alone. I've bled for you. I wanted too, each drop my own." It was her favorite song.

The sun blistered against my arms and neck as we came further into the light.

"Slowly laid apart. But fall in vain. Like desert rain. And still they fall on, and on, and on."

The pain scalded me, even through my torn, bloody shirt. Every part of my instinct was trying to rip itself free from me, but I couldn't let it. I had a job to finish. A war to end.

"NO!!!" The man screamed, feeling the flames that climbed my back to reach him. "NO!!!"

And then, we were dead.

I pushed myself up quickly and wiped the sweat from my brow, but it was all for nothing. My entire body was covered in sweat. The sheets that covered me were damp with it all. The cold, musky smell of my fear hung deeply in the air, and all I could do was breathe.

"Another nightmare?" She asked me, leaning up in our bed and wrapping her arms around her knees to keep herself steady. It'd been almost a decade since we'd been together, and every night since then, I'd been plagued with the same nightmare.

"Yeah. It was longer this time." I said, wiping my hand against the damp blanket that covered us both so that I could clear the sweat from my brow. "Tonight I walked into the sun." I said, fearfully looking into her soft, grey eyes. She knew just how powerful my dreams were, but she also believed that I could change my future.

"Well, when you do come to that point in your life, I'll just pull you back to me." She said smiling through her worry.

I smiled back. She knew that I could see right through her, but still; her smile was a force against my heart that nothing could ever dim.

"You sang in your sleep again." She said.

"I know." I couldn't remember where I'd heard the song, if I'd even heard it at all. All I knew was that it was the last thing on my mind before the flames engulfed me. Their sentence of death didn't even blot out the music. "I just wish I knew what it was all for."

She leant over and kissed me. "Be careful what you wish for, love." She said, pushing me back down onto the soft, damp bed. "Now go back to sleep."

I felt dirty laying in a bed soaked with my cold sweat. "Shouldn't we flip the bed or something?" I asked her, rolling on my side so that I could wrap my arms around her.

She scooted back into me and pulled my arm under her own for my warmth and squeezed her cold feet in between my closed knees. "_You_ can in when it's time to wake up. But I like your smell."

I did laundry as soon as she woke me up. I had no problem sleeping through the rest of the day. It was just that first dream that always shook me. That first premonition of pain. Something I'd always lingered on before my nights began.

I tossed the sheets in the washer and febreezed the mattress after scrubbing the damp surface. It had been the same routine ever since I'd moved in with Erica. My mother and Angela shared the house right across from us now. It was their way of being as close as they could to me, and I'd always thought it to be a silly gesture. But it made them happier so I went with it.

"Marcus and them should be coming by today, shouldn't they?" Erica asked, stopping by the laundry room with her change of clothes for the day hung over her shoulders.

I poured the detergent in over the sheets, closed the lid, twisted the knob to normal and laughed slightly at the irony. _It's always so strange to consider this normal._ "Nope."

"So are _you_ going to see _them?_" She asked, crossing her arms. She hated it when I didn't tell her things. I wasn't keeping secrets or anything, I just figured my mother and I'd go and see what they were up to tonight and head back the next. No big deal.

"Yep." I said, pulling out the plunger to the dial. The water splashed softly inside of the filling machine pushing out the smell of sweat from the room. "And I was wondering if you'd like to join us for once."

She'd been deafly afraid of going to Marcus's mansion ever since her attack on one of his followers. It was a petty fear, but fear was fear. Though, it was irritating to me. "You know how I feel about that place." She complained.

"Yeah, and what's going to happen when we get married or something? Are you going to miss the wedding because the guy you attacked was there?"

By the look on her face, I knew I shouldn't have said that.

"_When_ we get married?" She asked. The clothes on her shoulders fell to the floor as she uncrossed her arms. Those big, grey eyes held a pained expression at my general statement.

"I didn't mean that."

"You want to get married?" She asked, repeating back to me what _she'd_ heard. There are some conversations even vampires feared. This was one of mine.

I couldn't bring myself to say no, but I couldn't bring myself to say yes either. We'd been living together for almost ten years, and we were long overdue for this in human standards… but the thought of it just wasn't right. "Erica," I said, feeling another regret crawling up my throat. "I was just asking whether or not you were willing to face your fears about Marcus's mansion."

"So you _don't_ want to get married…" She asked, cocking her lower jaw to the left and crossing her arms again.

"Do you?" I asked.

"We've lived together for ten years, what's a girl got to do to get her man to put a ring on her finger?" She asked, her fingernails suddenly looked sharper than they had the night before, and with that notion, I took a step back.

"Sure, I'd love to get married." I lied. "But you've already experienced life, and I've only experienced like twenty years of mine." It still didn't feel right trying to convince her that I'd just wanted her to come and visit my brother with me.

"So?" She said uncrossing her arms. She gripped both sides of the doorframe with her sharp fingernails, leaving me with no exit strategy. I'd never seen her white cheeks so flourished before. She'd obviously been waiting for me to ask her… that question for a while. "What else did you want to experience before walking me down the aisle? Huh?"

I knew what she was getting at.

"Do you want to go fuck a human girl or something?"

I shook my head furiously. "No! What are you insane? I'm twenty years old, give me a break for being a little cautious about the steps I take!"

"You're a hundred and three years old! You're older than I am! So don't you stand there and tell me with a straight face that you have something you _have_ to do before marriage! Cause that's bullshit!" She yelled. Her red cheeks got redder and redder as I silently waited for her to continue. But instead, she just grabbed her clothes from the floor and poised herself to leave.

"You're an ass!" She yelled before turning out the door.

I quickly snatched up her hand and turned her back around. I couldn't help but smile at her. She was so much shorter than me now, and yet so much more angry. "Let go!" She yelled at me, punching me square in the chest.

"Look, Hun." I said, cupping her chin between my thumb and index finger. "If you can get over your fear of Marcus and the others, and just come with me to visit them, then I'll marry you."

She looked up at me skeptically. She knew she was right, and I was actually starting to see this from her perspective. All I wanted, was for her to be comfortable around my family. And my family did extend into Marcus's pack.

I smiled down into her skeptical grey eyes. "I promise, scouts honor." I said raising my hand in a scout's solute.

She laughed, breaking her angry glare from her face and leaving behind everything I'd loved about her for me to smile at. She pinched my chest and I let go of her to rub it. "You're such a dork." She said, laughing and walking away to the bathroom.

"So is that a yes?" I asked as she shut the door. The sounds of running water and her laughter filled the room.

I lingered for a few seconds before taking that as a yes. Of course now, I had a new problem. I had to tell my mother and Angela… _Or I could just let her do it._ I thought slyly as I shut off the laundry room light and closed the door. The uneven load was starting to shake the washer machine and that was just one of those noises that irked me.

"So when are you going to tell your mom?" She asked as I packed up an extra pair of clothes and stacked them neatly on top of hers.

"I thought you girly girls were supposed to be all giddy with excitement when someone proposed to you." I thought out loud. She instantly shoved me over.

"Watch it, Mr. Sensitive." She warned as I sat back up to tie off the plastic bag that held our clothes. I packed it in another plastic bag then tied all four handles together to keep it from breaking for when we finally got going.

"I'm just saying, I thought you'd be all giggles and squeals." I said shooting a smile her way. She was frowning at my feigned shamanism.

"Well, you should know by now that I'm not that kind of girl."

"Yeah, you're manlier than that." I said, trying to suppress a laugh as she punched me in the arm.

"Just because I can pin you down and make you scream uncle, doesn't make me manly, you jerk!" She complained. She laughed a little afterworlds, but it was because I was still rubbing my arm. _Well, you hit like a man._ I thought defensively. I knew my boundaries with her.

A knock on the door signaled that my mother had finally gotten ready, and with that, Erica stood, helped me up, and we were out the door. Onto our new little adventure.


End file.
